MLCU Chancellor Chairperson Dr. Glenn C Kharkongor has said that apart from happy spaces and safe places, there are a lot of dark places and spaces in the communities and homes (in a child’s life.)
“Dark spaces are a reality of a child’s life. It is not an uncommon thing. Probably a majority of children have suffered from darkness,” Kharkongor said at the 11th foundation day of Faith Foundation held at Don Bosco Youth Centre, Laitumkhrah.
He said that these feelings and cobwebs of darkness never go away and one learns to cope and live with them.
“Eventually there are children who are never able to cope, adjust or become functional again.
He informed that the MLCU had a survey among the students, twice during the Covid lockdown and another after the came back to the campus – on stress and well being and 97 per cent of them feel stressed.
Of these, 36 per cent of the students feel stressed everyday and 2.5 per cent had experienced or had thoughts of self harm. “That means among 2000 students we got about 50-60 students who had thoughts of self harm,” Kharkongor said.
He said that these dark spaces are a reality.
Meanwhile, Director of Social Welfare CD Lyngwa said that many children get addicted to drugs since they drop out of schools due to socio-economic factors. “This is because not of the single parents are not able to send their children to school,” she said.
Lyngwa spoke on the problem of teenage pregnancy, low self-esteem and searching for love in the wrong places. There is the problem of mothers has many kids and the lack of spacing between children leads to maternal mortality leaving them behind, she added.
“So when these kids grow up, again it is a vicious cycle because of the socio-economic situation,” she said.
Lyngwa also said that children in Meghalaya are stunted, malnourished due to the socio-economic index.
To mark the occasion, Faith Foundation held the “My Safe Space Campaign” which seeks to raise awareness and advocate for child safety through various initiatives, to highlight the importance of protecting the children.
The Mascots ‘Moi and Tiew’ was also launched during the programme. “Moi” is a Mynah and “Tiew” is a Lady’s Slipper Orchid, the State flower of Meghalaya.
