After the alleged sexual assault case of two nursery students at a Badlapur school in Maharashtra's Thane district, several child rights activists have raised concerns regarding gaps in awareness on child protection measures in many schools.
“Understanding how to recognise signs of abuse, asking the right questions to the child, and then reporting the case is the most important part. But most schools do not have the knowledge or the training,” Swati Popat Vats, president of Early Childhood Association (ECA), told The Free Press Journal.
'Collective responsibility'
Activists believe that the onus of child safety awareness is not solely on schools, but is rather a collective responsibility of all stakeholders, be it teachers, media, parents, or governments.
Sushanta Kumar Bhuyan of Smile Foundation said, “Child protection is a collective responsibility and a comprehensive effort is required by all stakeholders.”
“The government should take up responsibility for legal guidelines, helplines and commissions, and make sure that they are followed,” the director, programmes, of the Smile Foundation said, adding that the greater problem lies in awareness and compliance.
'Government's role'
Kamini Kapadia, State Consultant, Child Rights Policy and Advocacy, UNICEF (Maharashtra) said, “There are no model regulations being passed, and within the few government regulations, no one is making sure of its compliance.”
Stressing on the awareness of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) amongst schools, she said, “Government should make sure that the schools are well versed with POCSO and it is being implemented”.
'Parents should be trained'
Expressing that awareness for parents and children is equally important, Kapadia said, “The schools should train the parents in the orientation itself, or workshops should be held sensitising parents and children in Good Touch and Bad Touch (GTBT) and POCSO,” adding, “Complaint Committees should include parents as well working in close coordination.”
Bhuyan went on to say, “School Management Committee (SMC) should regularly organise collaborative discussions and training on child safety for collective awareness of children, parents and officials.” “it is of utmost importance,” he added.
'Child safety as school lesson'
Bhuyan believed that awareness can only be created by making it a part of normal day-to-day life of children. He said, “along with academics and life skills, let’s also have safety as lessons or part of the curriculum in schools”.
According to Bhuyan, “Our thinking has to be innovative. If we can have awards for academic and sports excellence then why not for awareness on child safety?”
'Uniform safety regulations'
One more measure that ECA president Vats put across was for “uniform safety regulations to be created across all states”. "Why are safety standards different for children in different states? All Indian children have a right to safety then why do some state governments have safety guidelines and some don’t,” she asked, adding, “It is time to rethink this.”
What schools said
The Free Press Journal also reached out to schools about the safety measures taken by the institute on their end.
Persis Wadia, Principal, Maneckji Cooper Education Trust School, said, “we have pre-clearance for all our staff along with POCSO and POSH workshops. There is also an internal complaints committee (ICC) providing recommendations.” She informed that the committee consists of diverse members, including parents and non teaching staff.
Another Principal, Sunanya Awasthi, Kanika International School, said, “we have a compulsory police check up”. She informed that after the Badlapur incident, her school has started “making sure that we have at least one female adult accompanying young children at places where they can be vulnerable.”
It is important to mention that a massive protest had broken out in Maharshtra's Thane district after two kindergarten girls were allegedly sexually abused by a male janitor at a Badlapur school toilet on August 20.
