Girl students from the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) schools will learn about ‘good touch and bad touch’ through special sessions under the name ‘The Touch’ very soon.
City-based NGO, New Hope Foundation(NHF), will take up these classes once in a week right from first class students. The initiative was launched at NMC High School, P&T Colony, on Monday. Mayor G. Hari Venkata Kumari has asked the organisers to take up the classes in the other corporation schools as well.
Education Officer of GVMC Srinivas said that the Mayor has launched the programme in the school and released the poster. The campaign is yet to begin in other schools.
NHF founder-member M. Malleswari said that the main aim is to prevent crimes against girls, especially of smaller ages. Despite efforts by the government and police, some girl children continue to be on the receiving end of sexual abuse, molestation and other crimes. The recent rape and murder of six-year-old girl in Hyderabad is an example, she said.
Ms. Malleswari said that unlike the older people, children do not have Disha app to reach out to police and may be not aware of such crimes to inform parents. The main motto of the programme is to create awareness about various ‘touches to the children and protect them and mitigate attacks on children, she said.
“We plan to conduct sessions on Friday or Saturday every week for an hour by dividing the classes. We will explain to the students about what is a good touch and bad touch. The classes will be taken up from Classes I to X,” she said.
She also said that in the first phase, they would conduct sessions in 27 GVMC schools in the city.
