The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has developed a module for Training of Trainers (ToT) programme involving teachers to create awareness among girl children in schools on how to defend themselves against attempts at sexual abuse at schools, homes and other places, said R. Vidyasaagar, Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the two-day Workshop on Child Rights Implementation with a Focus on Child Protection Issues which began at the VIT University here on Monday, Mr. Vidyasaagar said that since 98 per cent of the children are in schools, prevention of child sex abuse could be better achieved through the educational institutions.
“We want to make children the first line of defence. With this view we want to train them to protect themselves against sexual abuse”. In association with the education department of the Tamil Nadu government, UNICEF has developed a module for the ToT programme.
The UNICEF Specialist said that based on the module, the education department has prepared a booklet on the ToT programme which it had distributed to schools throughout the state.
The department was implementing the programme in various districts. The ToT programme includes the dissemination of the message through pamphlets containing pictorial representations identifying bad touch which the girl children should be wary of and raise alarm when attempts at sexual abuse are made.
Training of Trainers programme involves teachers to create awareness among girls on how to defend themselves against sexual abuse
