Goa State Commission for Protection of Child Rights launches one of the largest programmes on the prevention of child sexual abuse called Training of Trainers - Personal Safety Education (PSE) with SCERT (State Council of Educational Research and Training) and Arpan, an award-winning organisation working for the prevention of child sexual abuse in India.
This programme will be conducted from Aug 7 to 12, 2023, within 12 talukas with 3244 teachers of Goa as part of it in the first phase.
The launch was held on August 7, 2023, at the Directorate of Agriculture in the presence of Jaspal Singh, IPS, Director General of Police; Sayonara Laad Telles, President of Children’s Court of Goa; Adv Poonam Bharne, Director of Prosecution; Sindhu Prabhudessai, Asst Director, Directorate of Education.
This training will empower teachers with the knowledge of children and children’s rights, types of child abuse and child sexual abuse, statistics, short-term and long-term consequences of child sexual abuse, and the POCSO Act and its underlying provisions.
The most fundamental responsibility that education settings have is to keep children safe. There needs to be a clear focus on preventing abuse from happening in the first place, as well as providing timely and sensitive support to those affected.
Peter F Borges, Chairperson, Goa State Commission for Protection of Child Rights
This will help them acquire skills and techniques that need to be demonstrated while handling various types of disclosures and cases of child sexual abuse.
They will be further able to conduct sessions on this issue within their respective setups and contribute toward creating a safe environment for children.
Arpan’s resource persons Rehea Quadros, Suvidha Gaikwad, Shubhangi Shinde, Amey Korgaonkar, Rasika Shirsat, Shraddha Jadhav, Akash Ahire, Kusum Naik, Sayali Jadhav, Anushka Bhat, Jefina Thomas and Milind Murudkar will facilitate the training session and ensure the smooth implementation of the programme.
Peter F Borges, Chairperson, Goa State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, says, “Given the growing number of child sexual abuse cases across the state and the lack of awareness among children, the Commission will now work on strengthening guidance to teachers and providing more support for schools to tackle it, with support from Arpan.
He further went on to say, “Teachers and school leaders will be better supported to recognise sexual harassment and abuse, and teach confidently about issues of consent, online abuse and healthy relationships. The most fundamental responsibility that education settings have is to keep children safe. There needs to be a clear focus on preventing abuse from happening in the first place, as well as providing timely and sensitive support to those affected.”
