Saturday, Apr 20, 2024 | Last Update : 07:54 PM IST
NCERT books to carry child abuse guidelines
The CBSE had last week asked schools to conduct psychometric evaluation as well as police verification of their teaching and non-teaching staff.
New Delhi: In the wake of the killing of a seven-year-old boy on a private school campus in Gurgaon and the rape of a five-year-old girl by a school peon in Delhi, the NCERT has said that all its books from the next session will carry a list of dos to deal with cases of abuse of children.
It said that it wants the students to recognise the difference between “good touch” and “bad touch” and look up to their books to know what they should do if they face abuse.
The National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT), which suggests the Centre and state governments on school curriculum and text books, will also have certain helpline numbers, brief about the Pocso Act and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). NCERT director Hrushikesh Senapathy said the ministry of child and women development had approached them with the suggestion and that they have accepted it.
“Teachers do make an effort to educate students to differentiate between ‘good and bad touch’, but they, as well as parents, are often clueless about what to do in such situations and where to report such cases,” he said.
“So from the next session, the inner side of the back cover of all NCERT books will have certain guidelines in easily comprehensible language. It will also have certain illustrations about good touch and bad touch,” he said. There will also be a helpline numbers for students and parents to report such cases.
or seek any help or counselling. There will be a brief about the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and NCPCR, he added.
The move comes in the backdrop of concerns about the safety of students in the wake of killing of a seven-year-old boy on a private school campus in Gurgaon and the rape of a five-year-old girl by a school peon in Delhi.
The CBSE had last week asked schools to conduct psychometric evaluation as well as police verification of their teaching and non-teaching staff. Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar had also suggested hiring women drivers for school buses.
