Children can share photos they have clicked from their balconies, windows or rooftops during the lockdown with the state child rights watchdog.

The state commission for protection of child rights has started an initiative, Amar Chokhe Amar Prithibi (My world through my eyes), for children. They have to mail their photographs to amarprithibi.wbscpcr@gmail.com with their names and addresses and the commission will upload them on its website, www.wbcpcr.org, commission chairperson Ananya Chatterjee Chakraborti said on Monday.

A participant has to be within 18 years of age.

“A child must be standing on the balcony and watching the sky on a lazy afternoon to kill time. In the late afternoon, they might be seeing bird flocking home or they might be just staring at a lonely alley,” she said. “We are urging children to stay home and take photographs of moments like these and share them with us.”

The initiative was launched on April 11 and the last date to submit entries is April 30. “Given the abundance of smartphones, it is expected they are taking pictures. If they can be provided with a platform to showcase what they have clicked, they will feel more enthused,” she said.

A commission official said the latest initiative was to keep a child “positively engaged during the lockdown”.

Children are anxious and it is imperative that a child is engaged in positive exercises to help them counter what they are going through, Chatterjee Chakraborti said. “Managing a child during the lockdown can pose a challenge to parents who are themselves encountering uncertainty of a different kind. Parents must be worried about what might happen in their workplaces… we have come up with this initiative to help a child remain engaged in positive activities.”

Metro had last week reported that the commission was holding an online competition on creative writing, drawing and video filmmaking for children, called Corona Diary.