The safety of vulnerable children is as important in the house as well as the schools. The sexual abuse of children in school is of grave concern to parents and educationist alike. Some recent, reported incidents of sexual and physical abuse are spine chilling. Such bottled up experiences have negative effect on their personality for life and may manifest in undesirable behaviors. The parents must find time to continuously speak to their children, be frank and open and be approachable. Parents are engrossed in their daily routine and work, but specially need to be conscious of the sexuality of children. They should caution children in what constitutes in appropriate behaviour of touch implicit, expressions on any occasion, be it outings, camps, annual gatherings, on the part of adults anywhere, anytime and to resist mildly and communicate immediately.
The advent of phones and easy availability of hard porn and suggestive images in print and electronic media can influence them adversely. The concept of sex education is not finding acceptance with the society, which would have addressed the wholesome attitudes by well informed students towards sex as normal, not secretive to be ashamed off. The Head of the institute must not only be seen, but act as uncompromising, strictly dealing with such situations, otherwise it will b a case of hedge eating the grass. Students need to be cautioned not to accept allurements of any type verbal or material. The children are very much susceptible, most vulnerable to those in authority, considering them as father figure. The school rarely maintains vigilance against such inappropriate behaviors and usually treats such issues lightly, hush up to protect the reputation of the institute. A permanent counselor, a committee with parents must constantly be available, in whom students can confide freely and which can act as a deterrent. A talk on sex education held separately by experts for both parents and children seemed effective and needed to be repeated at regular interval they opined. Those who are in physical contact as a part of their duty must be monitored against promiscuity. The toilets facilities necessarily be separate, apart for both sexes and staff.
Some schools have the practice of appointing students squads to monitor the wash rooms. All the co-curricular activities within school hours and outside must be supervised, as they can provide access to such behaviors. The outlay of school structure must provide a central wide view. The availability of electronic surveillance is effective, if maintained for functionality.
Students sometime suffer physical harm due to badly maintained facilities, like play grounds, narrow corridors, improper lighting, air circulation, crowded classrooms, unhygienic toilets, substandard equipments. Laxity in moral conduct need to be nipped in the bud, as students must grow up strong in body and mind. Certainly these objects are achievable, if there is a will to be concerned and act.
