Gurugram schools take steps to quell ‘fear psychosis’

Mumbai: After the alleged sexual assault and murder of the seven-year-old at a Gurugram school, the tensions among the parents have soared up like never before.  Schools say that parents and students these days are suffering from an extreme ‘fear psychosis’ where they are paranoid about the school environment being unsafe. On the other hand, the schools, after fathoming out the mental condition of both parents and students have come up with various safety drives, awareness programs, counselling sessions, etc. 

All the branches of the Children’s Academy School have initiated ‘Good Touch and Bad Touch’ classes for their class 1 students. In these classes, lessons will be given in a ‘child-friendly’ manner about touch and making them aware of their own expressions. “We teach them about their own expressions. For example, if a child’s mother gives them a hug, what happens to their expression. It would make them happy. We know that, but a class 1 student does not. Also, if a stranger hugs them, they will be uncomfortable. All this is what happens in the class, they are taught about their emotions, change of behaviour and comfort,” said Venus Savla, Headmistress of primary section at Children’s Academy, Malad.

Another important element that was pinpointed by parents nationwide was the lack of security in schools. In here, the CCTV cameras play an important role. However, parents feel that installing these cameras is not enough. Aadarsh Shetty, a parent said, “In the regular PTA meetings, the schools keep assuring us (the parents) that we have installed so and so number of CCTV cameras in order to increase the security. But, our question is that how can a CCTV camera do the entire job? The school should focus monitoring the footages derived from the cameras on an hourly basis, every day. They should keep a check on the security personnel, ‘didis’ and ‘aunties’ who are constantly around our children and should have a proper coordination with parents.” 

In a move to make aware the staff members of the schools, schools in the city have started Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) workshops where counselling and informative along with educative sessions take place. This is for the peons, clerks, mavshis, watchmen, teaching, non-teaching staff, principals and even parents. Moreover, it will be conducted on a regular basis in the schools.