First in India: Teen girl welcomes callers of TN Child Helpline

CHENNAI: In order to make Child Helpline (CHL) 1098 more friendly and comforting for callers, especially children who call to register their complaint, the Directorate of Social Defence (DSD) has recorded the “welcome note” for Interactive Voice Response (IVR) by one of the teenage girls at the government home.

This one-of-a-kind initiative is first in India, say DSD officials in Chennai.

The CHL was undertaken by the TN government from July 31 midnight, after the Ministry of Child and Women Empowerment decided that the respective State governments in India to operate the helpline instead of Childline India Foundation (CIF) and partner NGOs.

Hence, after the CHL came under the TN government, the DSD officials decided to make the helpline more exclusive with new and innovative initiatives.

As part of which, the officials decided to add the voice of an actual girl for IVR’s welcome note instead of an automated voice.

Since the TN government took over CHL, it has been keen on children’s involvement in its initiatives. This started off by making the helpline more child friendly.

Explaining this, a DSD official said, “With the consent of a teenage girl from one of the government girls’ homes in the city, the voice in the IVR was recorded and has been active since August last week.”

Before the TN government took over CHL, officials say that the IVR had only English and Hindi languages.

Hence, the DSD officials began by writing a script for a welcome note in Tamil. “Currently, the IVR will begin with a welcome note in Tamil recorded by the teenage girl, followed by automated voices in English and Hindi, recorded by adults. Though it is early to gauge, we are confident that children will find the actual voice of the girl more comforting.”