Creating child protection wing in collaboration with HSCPCR

CHANDIGARH, NOV 23

 Haryana Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), School Education Department, Dr. K.K. Khandelwal said that the Department is willing to create a child protection wing in collaboration with Haryana State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (HSCPCR) to support research and development activities which will ultimately benefit the children.

          Dr. Khandelwal, who was speaking in the launch event of E-Learning Module on Child Sexual Abuse and POCSO Act, 2012 titled “Satarak Main Surakshit Main” organised by HSCPCR in collaboration with Save the Children, Punjab and Haryana State Programme Office, here today, spoke 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, Mrs. Jyoti Bainda said that for the first time, focus was being laid to reach to children in Government schools in Haryana. 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. 

She said that HSCPCR has been given the statutory mandate to monitor the implementation of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 in Haryana. She expressed 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.

Elaborating on the 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/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.

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

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