WUNRN
INDIA - IS YOUR LITTLE GIRL SAFE IN SCHOOL?
By Hema Vijay
Chennai (Women’s Feature Service) –
The rape of a six-year-old girl at an upscale school in Bengaluru has refocused
everyone’s attention on the issue of child sexual abuse in the country. Ever
since this chilling news has hit the headlines, parents across
Despite the fact that the National
Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data has shown a rise of 45 per cent in cases of
alleged child rape – 12,363 cases were reported in 2013 as compared to 8,541 in
2012 – many families either remain ignorant or are resigned to the threats
their children are exposed to, especially in school. “It is indeed incredible
to see that no one really raises their voice when a school blatantly issues
letters stating it is not responsible for the safety of children studying
there. This is illegal,” states Chennai-based legal expert T.K. Ramkumar. He
further adds, “The law dictates that children under the age of consent have to
be protected by the institution they are enrolled into.”
However, as things stand presently
most schools have neither put in place any concrete systems to guarantee safety
within their premises nor have they created a culture that builds awareness
among children. Despite this, the good news is that it is not a scenario that
cannot change.
For starters, what is required is the
strict execution of the law. Fact is that though the Protection of Children
from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act,
2012, covers all forms of child sexual abuse and establishes important
guidelines for the police and courts to deal with victims sensitively, its
implementation is ineffective as neither the authorities nor parents are really
in the know of its various provisions. In 2013,
Central Board of School Education (CBSE) had issued a circular directing
schools to publicise the POCSO Act among teachers and parents. Many remain
clueless till date. Apart from this, schools have been mandated to prominently
display the child helpline number, 1098, on campus but to no avail.
State-run
institutions need to improve as well. In Tamil Nadu, for instance, the
Department of School Education has issued a handbook clearly laying down the
protocol of action in case there is a complaint of sexual assault. Again, while
this has been distributed among government school staffers, private schools
haven’t followed suit.
“Educational
institutions have to create and seriously enforce proper rules of conduct for
teachers, non-teaching staff and even older children stating what is acceptable
and unacceptable behaviour,” asserts Dr Shaibya Saldanha of Enfold Trust, a
Bengaluru-based orgamisation that works on imparting life skills and sexuality
education to children. She adds, “In the horrific case in Bengaluru, reports
have revealed that the victim had been put in isolation in a separate room as
punishment, which gave the molester an opportunity to violate her. Had the
teachers been aware that keeping a child in isolation as punishment is illegal
they would not have done it and maybe the girl would have been saved of the
trauma she has lived through.” Dr Saldanha is not wrong. As per the Juvenile
Justice Act (Section 23) as well as the Indian Penal Code (Section 319)
solitary confinement of children is illegal.
What this
necessarily points to is the total lack of awareness when it comes to the issue
of child protection. Indeed, this gap in information can be tackled through
suitable orientation. “If teachers need to be kept abreast then relevant
details must be made available to parents through Parent Teacher Associations
meetings and regular workshops. Right now when parents complain and the school
doesn’t respond they don’t know who to call or what to do,” reveals Vidya Reddy
of Tulir Centre for Prevention and Healing of Sexual Abuse in Chennai.
Reddy goes on
to specify the contents of such a workshop, “Topics such as appropriate
behaviour in classroom, on the playground and during excursions; boundaries of
communication with children; and use of technology must be covered. In
addition, there should be a discussion on reporting abuse – how to file a
complaint, the method of conducting an investigation and involving the police.
If parents know all this then they can question the authorities and ensure that
protocols are adhered to.” Unfortunately, at present, Reddy feels that “schools
have created a halo of inaccessibility around them so that no one demands action”.
Besides knowledge dissemination,
schools have to step up on two other counts – bettering the physical
infrastructure and conducting proper background check while appointing staff
members. Opines Dr Lois J. Engelbrecht, Founder, Center for the Prevention
and Treatment of Child Sexual Abuse, that works with children and young people
in
In the Bengaluru case, inquiry has
revealed that the teacher who was first suspected to be the perpetrator and
subsequently let off had kept child pornography material on his laptop, and had
been fired from the school he had worked in earlier for inappropriate behaviour
with students. Prior to hiring him, ViBGYOR school authorities had not bothered
to find out why this staffer had left his earlier job; nor had his former
employers thought it necessary to register a formal complaint against him.
Reddy suggests that schools could
develop a questionnaire for screening employees with pointed questions such as
how many times have you changed jobs and why, what would you do if a child
attempts to get close to you, how will you react if you see misbehaviour, and
so on. “Although a questionnaire may not be a foolproof process of
weeding out the problem-makers, the answers will definitely give an idea about
the employee’s attitude,” she says.
Coming to infrastructure, institutions
need to ensure that classrooms and other spaces on campus are open to everyone
so that children cannot be cornered. While the presence of CCTVs
can make a difference in this regard, technology
cannot necessarily ensure absolute security. “There are
many loopholes in this. I can recall one incident where the offender switched
off the CCTV before committing the assault. Moreover, not many schools can
employ the manpower essential to constantly monitor the feed. And besides,
there are areas like bathrooms, alleys, and playgrounds that are off-bounds for
CCTV monitoring,” remarks Dr Saldanha. Government
schools, on the other hand, have a lot of ground to cover where even the basics
are concerned. Most simply don’t have any concept of security as outsiders walk
in and out at will and the non-existent or non-functioning toilets only add to
the vulnerability of girls.
Of course, ultimately children have to
be taught the basics of personal safety so that they can recognise abuse and
fearlessly report it. Here, both teachers and parents have a role to play.
Although few schools run programmes on personal safety for
students, it can be of great value. Observes Nancy Thomas of Tulir Centre,
“Many a time, authorities are worried that by holding such campaigns or
workshops parents might think that something bad keeps happening at school.
Others are in a denial mode that sexual offences can happen in their schools.”
Parents similarly fall short. “What dissuades them from talking about sexual
assault is not knowing how to render age-appropriate communication to the
child,” analyses Thomas. This is where organisations like Tulir Centre and
Enfold Trust come in handy as these child protection agencies offer to conduct
personal safety workshops at schools and their websites also provide some
guidance on how parents can give safety education.
Sexual abuse may not be 100 per cent preventable but creating a culture and system of safety can make a real difference to our young girls.
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