Ahmedabad set to become 'child-friendly city'

An Ahmedabad school has joined hands with some corporate houses and institutions to make Ahmedabad the country's first child-friendly city.

For the projects, 'Street Smart' which launched under the school's aProCh (a protagonist in every Child) which is an initiative of the Riverside School, the school has roped in the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad, National Institute of Design, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and traffic police.

The initiative will be organised on August 15 and will see a stretch of road near Law Garden being closed to traffic for designated hours so that it can be converted into a street for children activities.

Various corporates including Asian Paints, Canmart, Simran Farms, Expro Events and Exhibits, Varun Radiators, Oswal Metals and the Ashima Group have partnered for the same.

Activities on the street will include theatre training, face painting, magic show, mehndi tattooing, story telling and photography among others and adults would not be allowed entry into the street without a child.

A local radio station will give children the experience of being radio jockeys and cover the event live while an NGO will be screening a short film on children and parks.

The event will also see the presence of artists like Amit Ambalal, Haku Shah, Rajesh Sagara and Karl Antao converting ordinary garbage bins into pieces of art. 

Students from IIM-A and NID have agreed to act as volunteers and will be brainstorming with aProCh on upcoming activities.

"We plan to hold a 'Street Smart' activity on the different streets of Ahmedabad every month which will enable children to be seen, heard and talked about. For this, we are banking on citizens supporting the initiative since there is no sponsorship or fund established specially for the purpose," said Kiran Sethi, director, Riverside School and the creator of aProCh.

In the pipeline for aProCh includes the creation of 'Bus Karo' which is acquiring a bus to take street children and those from remand houses around the city to health clinics, restaurants and multiplexes. Sethi said that she is planning to set up an aProCh chapter at IIM-A to strengthen relations with the institute.