Child
protection
On the 26th of November’16, a very
important and much needed
session on Child Protection was organized in Ahlcon
International
School for parents of the children studying in the Pre-primary
classes. The session was also witnessed by the Principal
Mr. Ashok K Pandey,
AHM Ms. Sunita Rajiv and the teachers of
the Pre-primary wing.
The session was held in two parts with two different
speakers. The
first speaker for the day was Ms. Bhawani Sharma, Secretary East
DLSA. She spoke in detail about the various legal aspects related
to child
sexual abuse. She informed the parents about the POCSO
Act and its sections
that are meant for child protection against
sexual offences. She also told them
about the procedures to follow
if a case of any sexual violation against a
child comes to notice.
The second speaker for the session was Ms. Diana
Cherian. What
she wanted to convey through the session was the need for people
to break the silence on the sensitive subject of child sexual abuse.
In a
country like India, where the society is quite conservative and
reserved,
people need a wake up jolt rather than a wakeup call
when touching such
subjects and Ms. Cherian’s aim was to try and
be that spark of ignition for the
audience present there. She went in
detail about why children are not able to
or don’t communicate
about being abused. What role we as a community play,
being
ignorant and avoiding the subject and how to turn things around for
safe
guarding the child and being their safety net and strength as a
parent by
breaking away stepping up from societal pressure and
embarrassment.
She explained about what all is considered as child sexual
abuse
which contains both physical contact and non-physical contact. She
also
explained the psychological effects and scars that is left after
and how that
affects the future of that child. Overall it was an
emotionally engaging
session which the parents appreciated. A lot
of them left with a new found
strength to be a stronger parent,
some of them had their imaginary blind folds
untied and strewn
away for good.
The session ended with a vote of thanks by AHM Ms.
Sunita Rajiv
and a hopeful note of shattering the silence on child sexual abuse
and come together as parents and a community to protect and
secure the future,
the children.