Find solutions to end violence, discrimination against girls, says Priyanka Chopra
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas arrived on a two-day visit to Lucknow on Monday and visited Composite School, Aurangabad, on the city’s outskirts and a few others
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas arrived on a two-day visit to Lucknow on Monday and visited Composite School, Aurangabad, on the city’s outskirts and a few others. Later, in the evening, she visited Call Center 1090 at the Child Security Organisation run by the police department to interact with the staff there.
Priyanka spent time at the Composite School Aurangabad meeting children like Mamta who made a smart shoe that helps visually challenged individuals and Zakir who makes chikki, jelly, nutritious chocolate and pickle.
At the Anganwadi Centre in Lalpur, Mohanlalganj, Priyanka learned how Anganwadi Workers are helping children, and pregnant and new mothers with their health, nutrition and overall wellbeing through POSHAN tracker, an app introduced by the government of India.
At the Primary School, Lalpur, children belonging to Meena Manch, a platform for students to discuss and voice their views, performed a skit on how they raise awareness on violence against children.
At the Junior High School Uttardhauna where Priyanka spent time with an adolescent girls’ group to understand their issues and how they are overcoming them. She also met the amazing youth from Smart Yuva and Muskarayega India who are speaking up on mental health and are agents of change in their communities.
The actor interacted with students, particularly with girls to understand their views on gender equality and importance of education. She saw some of their school projects and asked questions related to it. The actor saw some of the innovative projects made by students and was impressed by them.
The actor shared a number of Instagram posts in which she was seen interacting with students in a classroom, saw their books and asked what all they were learning. She went to an Anganwadi in Lalpur where she saw nutrition and growth-monitoring of kids. She sat down on a mat and interacted with toddlers and their mothers.
A girl even presented Priyanka with her sketch. On arrival, the actor posted a 58-second video on Twitter in which she said, “Right now I am in Lucknow with UNICEF. And I am really looking forward to this field visit. I spent a few of my childhood years at school in Lucknow. I have family and friends here.”
She further said, “I am keen to understand how the need has changed here for women and children in the state of Uttar Pradesh. I want to see first hand how technology and innovations are making shift. Across India, gender inequality results in unequal opportunities. And it is the girls that are most disadvantaged.”
The actor further spoke about finding solutions to end violence and discrimination against girls. She said, “We are visiting various Unicef partners to see the work that is being done with the aim to end violence and discrimination against girls. I will hear about the challenges they face in everyday life and see the solutions on hand because what is needed is solutions at scale. As I have said often enough, women and girls are the key to building a better future and not just for themselves but for their communities.”
The popular actor also interacted with Covid-19 orphans who are beneficiaries of Mukhyamatri Bal Sewa Yojana. The children talked about how they were able to continue with their education following support extended by the government. She also spoke to adolescent girls.
Another group that worked as mental health counsellors, briefed Priyanka about how they counselled people during the pandemic. Later in the evening, she interacted with a number of bureaucrats too.
