Salaam Bombay NGO's Bal Parishad student initiative completes 20 years

MUMBAI: NGO Salaam Bombay Foundation’s preventive health education programme marked the 20th version of its flagship forum Bal Parishad. This initiative helps adolescents from deprived communities engage directly with policymakers and authorities, and bring positive change to their communities.Over 200 students from govt and govt-aided schools attended as did senior policymakers and administrators including state school education minister Pankaj Bhoyar, Ranjit Singh Deol, principal secretary, school education and sports dept; Vijayakant Sagar, DCP, Sujata Khare, BMC education officer, and Dr Umesh Shirodkar, joint director, public health dept.The student 'health monitors' spoke of challenges facing their communities like tobacco addiction, lack of hygiene and nutritional inadequacies.

Through direct interaction with policymakers, they presented recommendations and shared initiatives such as poster campaigns, door-to-door outreach and collaboration with local leaders.Minister Bhoyar said, “Today we saw how a committed social organisation can drive meaningful change in society. The confidence with which the students made presentations, and the joy on their faces reflect the true impact of such initiatives.

To me, this is real success. The work being undertaken by Salaam Bombay Foundation addresses a critical need of our times, and the govt and the administration will support them.

"Deol said, "We are seeing the children of the Bal Parishad step forward as agents of social awareness. Through their success stories, we can see that when children are determined, they can mobilise their community, whether it is addressing waste management or other public health concerns and bring about measurable change."Tshering Bhutia, chief innovation officer and senior VP, projects (preventive health education programme & research), Salaam Bombay Foundation, said, "What we saw today was children speaking the truth from lived realities. Bal Parishad reaffirmed that when we listen to young voices, we help break the cycle of fear and ignorance, and nurture confident voices and conscious choices."