FR GEORGE CHEMPAKATHINAL HONOURED WITH LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR SERVICE TO YOUTH AT RISK

Fr George Chempakathinal honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award for service to Youth at Risk

• Posted on 01-Oct-2026
• Uploaded by | NITIKA DON BOSCO

New Delhi, 30 September: Fr Dr George Chempakathinal, known as Fr C.J. George and Director of Don Bosco Ashalayam, Kolkata, has received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his decades-long service to children and young people at risk.

The national body working in the field of Youth at Risk (YaR) presented the award in New Delhi, recognising Fr George’s sustained service to children living on the streets, those deprived of family support, and young people affected by poverty, neglect and social exclusion.

The recognition is closely linked to his long association with Don Bosco Ashalayam, the Salesian initiative in Kolkata established in 1985 for children and young people in vulnerable situations. Ashalayam combines residential care, education, counselling, life-skills formation and vocational training.

Fr George has served Ashalayam in various capacities over several decades, including as its Director. In 2021, after nearly a decade of academic and administrative service at Salesian College, Darjeeling, he returned as Executive Director. At the time, he highlighted the heightened vulnerability of children in remote villages, urban slums and on the streets.

His contribution to youth-at-risk ministry extends beyond direct intervention. He has been actively associated with the Salesian Youth at Risk network in India and has served as the Kolkata Province coordinator for YaR. The national Salesian YaR Forum has provided a platform for practitioners working with vulnerable children and young people across different regions of the country.

Under his leadership, Ashalayam has continued to strengthen programmes in educational rehabilitation, vocational preparation and community-based intervention. Its outreach has included children from slums and other vulnerable communities in Kolkata.

The award also highlights Ashalayam's wider legacy, which has evolved from an initiative providing care to children in difficult circumstances into a comprehensive child-development programme. Its approach focuses not only on shelter and protection but also on restoring access to education, relationships, skills and opportunities for a dignified future.

Fr George’s ministry has been shaped by both academic scholarship and grassroots engagement. He completed doctoral studies in child care and served as a professor of sociology and social work at Salesian College, Sonada and Siliguri, before returning to youth services.

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognises a sustained commitment to a central Salesian conviction: that every young person, especially those facing vulnerability and exclusion, deserves the opportunity to discover their dignity, develop their potential and build a secure and meaningful future.

For the children and young people of Ashalayam, Fr George’s contribution has been expressed through the everyday work of accompanying, educating, protecting and empowering. The New Delhi award brings national recognition to that longstanding ministry and his commitment to young people at risk.

Fr. CM Paul, SDB

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