The State Governtment has formulated a draft Child Protection Policy (CPP), that will be the guiding beacon for all institutions that deal with children in the state.
Using the Policy, each school will have to evolve its own plan and it will be the board to which they are affilited that will be responsible for ensuring adherence.
The draft policy has a a safety checklist for schools, and places the onus of child protection on the principal who has to ensure that child safety violations are documented. It seeks to place emphasis on the overall physical, emotional and personal safety of the child. It covers corporal punishment and cyber-crime too especially paedophilia.
Every School, will have to specially nominate a child protection officer (CPO) from among the teaching or non teaching staff. A Child Protection Committee (CPC) consisting principal, senior teacher, one senior non-teaching staff, student representatives, parents and an external person from the local neighbourhood also needs to be constituted. This body needs to meet periodically and review the measures in place. The entire staff will have to trained on child protection. The policy places special emphasis on how children themselves can be involved in the protection mechanism.
The policy also has a form for reporting child abuse and a specified format for grievance redressal.
However, the policy does not list out what needs to be done in post-trauma period.
Sources said that the policy drafted in consultation with UNICEF, after receiving suggestions, would be placed before the Cabinet later this month.
Include post-trauma care aspect’
While the Child Protection Policy (CPP) framed for schools has been lauded by child activists for being comprehensive, they say that the post-trauma guidelines need to be included in it.
Sources said post-trauma care guidelines that include counselling and interactions with police will be framed soon. The Women and Child Development Department has sought help from experts from the National Institute of Mental and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) to frame the guidelines for post-trauma care. “While we have put in place all guidelines for preventing child abuse and assaults, we also want to formulate a mechanism so that the child is able to cope with the trauma,” a source in the government said.
Engaging children in framing policy
Unlike most polices, the Child Protection Policy attempts to adopt a participatory method and engage children in its framing. Some of the innovative methods suggested in the policy for schools include danger zone mapping for children, which could include their journey from their house to the school; in and around school; understanding how children view themselves and how children cope with different situations. Besides, another interesting point suggested is the body mapping exercise in order to facilitate girls and boys to draw their bodies and explore existing attitudes and practices, and likes and dislikes. The policy also mandates keeping a suggestion box in the school.
