School children in and around Mangalore are set to learn the ways of dealing with sexual abuse through some games and presentations, as a group of a professionals have together to take up the cause.
The Inchara Foundation, an organisation of young professionals, and Social Economic Forum of the School of Social Work on Tuesday formally launched the ‘Project Angel’. As a part of this project, there will be a series of programmes to make children aware of child sexual abuse. A few of the programmes will also be aimed at sensitising parents and teachers.
A group of students dressed like angels, arrived on the stage and cut a cake. The song ‘kho na jaye’ from the famous film Taare Zamin Par, marked the beginning of the programme. District in-charge Minister B. Ramanath Rai, distributed the cake to the children. Preetham Rodrigues, executive director of the Inchara Foundation, said the plan was to hold programmes in all the schools in the district in coordination with the Department of Public Instruction and the District Child Protection Unit.
Instead of giving the messages directly to the children, they would be incorporated in group activities such as games through which they will learn to differentiate between a good touch and a bad touch as well as how to react if something is amiss. District Child Protection Officer Usman highlighted the need for awareness programmes on child sexual abuse, as the findings of the study carried out by the Inchara Foundation brought to the fore that it was serious and needed urgent attention. The findings are yet to be placed before the government.