Govt steps in to save schoolkids

According to a recent government study on child abuse about 49 per cent students in India have been sexually abused in school, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Updated on: Sep 13, 2007, 01:02:13 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Parents need to keep an eye on sudden behavioural changes in their children, schools should get the antecedents of staff verified and keep the corridors well-lit, and both parents and schools should work to prevent sexual abuse of schoolchildren. These are part of a set of guidelines the government is planning to send to schools across the country to ensure that children are safe outside home.

About 49 per cent students in India have been sexually abused in school, according to a recent government study on Child Abuse.

The guidelines were drafted after HT reported on July 25 the case of a student who was sexually abused by employees of his Kingsway Camp school. An inquiry panel of the Women and Child Development Ministry, which looked into the case, found faults with the school, and recommended suspension of its licence.

The panel, headed by Lovleen Kacker, also drafted the guidelines. They include setting up of a committee, comprising teachers and parents, in each school to look into complaints by students. The panel also wants that schools should have qualified counselors to guide parents and children through situation of distress, including sexual abuse. Medical facility in schools has been prescribed as a mandatory condition in the guidelines.

The ministry has also made a strong case for a classroom environment where students can share personal matters with teachers. The students should also be taught safety rules for their protection. The guidelines suggest ways to check sexual abuse in schoolbus, hallways, hideaways and restrooms places identified in the child abuse study where the child is likely to be harmed.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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