With incidents of child abuse going unreported, the Government has decided to kickstart a programme in schools across the country to first sensitise children on “appropriate touch or demand” and then collect written responses from them through a survey.
The exercise will be launched by the Women and Child Development (WCD) Ministry in collaboration with the HRD Ministry in the schools to get a more definite count of cases of child abuse, particularly those taking place “indoors.”
“We will start the exercise with the help of NGOs as a part of which we will go to the schools and make students aware about good and bad touch,” said WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi.
She said talks are already underway with the HRD ministry and several NGOs on the programme which will not just be a survey exercise, but also an awareness venture to educate students about “inappropriate” touches, requests or demands.In India several cases of child sexual abuse go unreported due to fear of social stigma and lack of faith in Government institutions.
According to UNICEF, one of three rape victims in India is a child and more than 7,200 children, including infants, are raped every year in the country.“After an awareness programme, we will also hand out forms which they can fill up in. We are going to work with the HRD Ministry to see how we can get through all schools across the country,” said Maneka.“Those students who are not comfortable to speak out will get an option to write them down. Many cases of physical abuse go unreported and the idea is to make the children open up,” she said.
Maneka said that as part of the awareness campaign, the WCD Ministry will also stage plays in the villages and show films to educate children.Also, the Ministry will form teams which will inspect all the homes across the country to see if children are being given proper facilities and environment.
In a step towards curbing child abuse, India has enacted a law for the protection of children from sexual offences.A 2007 report on child abuse by the WCD Ministry says that two out of every three children were found to be physically abused. Out of 69 per cent children physically abused in 13 sample States, 54.68 per cent were boys. Over 50 per cent children in all sample States were being subjected to one or the other form of physical abuse.
Further in terms of sexual abuse, 53.22 per cent children reported having faced one or more forms of sexual abuse. Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Delhi reported the highest percentage of sexual abuse among both boys and girls.Further, 21.90 per cent child respondents reported facing severe forms of sexual abuse and 50.76 per cent other forms of sexual abuse.