'Punjab to launch awareness campaign against sexual offences'

Punjab education minister Daljit Cheema has announced that the Punjab government will soon launch an awareness campaign in schools to educate students against sexual offences and laws to protect women.

Punjab education minister Daljit Cheema has announced that the Punjab government will soon launch an awareness campaign in schools to educate students against sexual offences and laws to protect women.

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In his inaugural address at the one-day seminar on Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) organised by Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), Manav Mangal Smart School, Phase 10, SAS Nagar, Cheema referred to recent incident of the alleged rape of a 12-year-old government school student of Ludhiana by a student of the school.

“Such offences were a blot on our society,” he said, adding that the lack of awareness among people was the cause behind such offences. He said that 280 education officials and teachers would be sensitised regarding offences against children and women.

The minister also released a charter which provided detailed information about beneficiary schemes of department and a book titled 'career guidance and counseling' by author Preetinder Kaur on the occasion. DEOs of 22 districts, 110 principals and 130 teachers, incdluing School Education Board chairperson Tejinder Kaur Dhaliwal, DPI (secondary education) Darshan Kaur, State Council Educational Research and Training (SCERT) director Pankaj Sharma, additional director Bhagwant Singh, Manav Mangal Smart School director Sanjay Sardana, principal Neena Peter, DEO (secondary education) Meva Singh Sandhu and DEO ( primary) Gurjeet Singh.