With child sexual abuse incidents increasingly being reported from school campuses and, in some cases, managements even trying to brush such serious crimes under the carpet, the education department has taken up the onus of teaching schools their role in fighting such offences.
On Saturday, deputy director of education Suman Shinde took the lead in organising a one-day three-pronged workshop for over 700 school principals from aided and unaided schools across Pune district on the subjects of child sex abuse, child labour and promoting environment conservation through students.
“Often teachers see child labour employed at tea stalls and yet don’t complain to authorities. Or they hear rumours about a possible exploitation and are scared of consequences to report. We conducted this workshop so that teachers and principals can be made aware of their roles, the existing laws and their right to report such incidents as well as to give them the confidence that the department will stand by them,” said Shinde.
Many childcare experts like counsellors, child psychiatrists and lawyers told principals the role of schools in preventing and handling such incidents.
Senior school counsellor Preeti Parekh from Baner’s Orchid’s School outlined how to develop a culture in schools that deters such incidents. “The school management must ensure that there are strong policies and there is constant training and education of students and teachers regarding child sex abuse. Once students are confident of zero tolerance policy, they would come forward easily. If such incidents happen, whether big or small, the school must report to the police and let them do its job without being discriminate against the student,” she said.
Child psychiatrist Dr Bhooshan Shukla said, “I spoke on the psychological impact of such incidents, the burden it creates and how to help students overcome it,” he said.
Lawyer Abhay Apte explained to principals the new law — Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 — and the child labour related laws explaining the school’s responsibility in mandatory reporting such cases to police, protecting student’s rights etc. The workshop would be repeated next week for principals and teachers of aided and unaided schools of Ahmednagar and Solapur districts.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}