Haryana Government will create a child protection wing in collaboration with Haryana State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (HSCPCR) to support research and development activities.

 Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), School Education Department, KK Khandelwal on Thursday said that the Department is willing to create a child protection wing which will ultimately benefit the children.

Khandelwal, who was speaking at the launch event of e-learning module on child sexual abuse and POCSO Act, 2012 titled “Satarak Main Surakshit Main” organised by HSCPCR, talked about creating child protection patrol groups under scouts and guides program.

Apart from this, he also appreciated the collaborative effort and promised full support of the Education Department Speaking on the occasion, chairperson HSCPCR, Jyoti Bainda said that for the first time, focus was being laid to reach to children in government schools in Haryana.

 Elaborating on the e-learning modules, she said that total of four modules would be prepared eventually. The first module is meant for children of age group 6 to 10 years, second is for adolescents between 11 and 18 years of age, third is for adult citizens and fourth is meant for supervisors or trainers.

 This module would be screened in all government schools of Haryana and would be an added tool in the dissemination of basic child protection education for children.  Through this module, children would learn about safe and unsafe touch, how to keep themselves safe and how to report unsafe situations, said the HSCPCR chairperson.

Bainda also expressed hope that together HSCPCR and Education Department can reach out to more children and make a sincere effort to ensure their safety.

 She said that Government of India has taken many legislative and policy measures to strengthen the response mechanism for cases of child sexual abuse, however much needs to be done for effective implementation.

 HSCPCR has been given the statutory mandate to monitor the implementation of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 in Haryana, said she while expressing concern over the spike in sexual offences against small children.

 “We should be doing everything in our power to ensure these children not only get justice by the criminal justice system, but also manage to lead lives to its fully capacity. It is our job to ensure children get the benefit of all the measures that have been out in place by the various legislations”, she added.