PANJIM: Against the backdrop of an increasing number of incidents of child abuse in schools across the country, the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has initiated serious steps for the safety of students that includes verifying antecedents of the staff, including teachers, in all educational institutions.
A series of security measures circulated to State education departments emphasizes on a zero tolerance policy for alcohol and drugs. “…The States devise processes to verify the antecedents of not only all teachers but also other contractual or subordinate staff deployed in schools. In addition, oversight by Government’s own administrative and monitoring machinery needs to be prescribed realistically so as to ensure that schools and teachers are monitored regularly,” the 25-page guidelines read.
The ministry also highlights that principals and head teachers be tasked to supervise the overall functioning to ensure that no child is abused either by teachers or any staff.
Two such cases in Goa were reported when a student was allegedly molested by a teacher at his apartment in December 2011. Subsequently fearing a threat to her life, the girl attempted suicide after the teachers was granted bail.
In another incident, a seven-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by an unidentified man in the school toilet at Vasco in January 2013. The accused is still at large and CBI Goa is investigating the case.
The Goa education department has further disseminated the Centre’s ‘preventive mechanisms’ to all schools and high schools for implementation. “Our officials are already on the job to abide by the guidelines and it is further circulated to the educational institutions to execute whatever comes in their domain,” an education official told Herald.
Another direction issued by the MHRD stresses that liquor, drugs and tobacco products should not be tolerated.
and has asked head teachers of respective schools to draw a mechanism to keep children away from the menace.
It has explained that if a teacher or any employee is found in a drunken state, the environment of the school is vitiated in addition to the risk posed to the children.
In a list of suggestions, the ministry states that schools located in commercial areas where banned products are openly sold, should be shifted to a safe locality. This also includes schools operating from near highways, busy main roads, unmanned railway crossing, water bodies, canals, seasonal rivers or locations where older girls are at a significant risk to high frequency of eve teasing.
The guidelines also talk about every school having a minimum of one female teacher and more women as cooks, helpers and other staff. As a part of pre-service child rights awareness to teachers, the ministry has suggested various steps such as continuous education in this regard while also weaving in drills for safety and security of children in the event of any possible disaster or accident.
“Challenging gender stereotypes and other inherent biases prevalent in the society can be intensively done in the pre-service teacher training,” it further says.
