Last Sunday, the city of Vizag celebrated Children’s Day along with the rest of India. It commemorates the birthday of the first Prime Minister of Independent
India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. While we look at the future of our
country and how it’s progressing, we should also address some of the
grave issues that we are facing regularly. One of the biggest threats in
our country, along with the world at large, is Child Sexual Abuse
(CSA). This is what the Vizag
Chapter, of CII – Young Indians (YI), has been addressing, by spreading
awareness about Child Sexual Abuse and the measures to how to combat
this evil. This
problem plagues lakhs of children in India. With time, it has also
become difficult to identify sexual predators and keep our children safe
from them. Such is the sensitivity of this issue that in many cases,
the child isn’t even aware that he/she is being sexually abused. The
need of the time is to educate children on what constitutes a ‘Safe
Touch’ and what defines an ‘Unsafe Touch’. Entitled
Masoom Week, right from Children’s Day onwards, Young Indians have been
organising various events to further this social cause against Child
Sexual Abuse. It was kickstarted with a face to face interaction at the
Vocal for Local Handicrafts at Welcomhotel Grand Bay in the city. Here
YI Vizag members gave a presentation on signs of CSA to the attendees of
the exhibition. In the following three days, the YI Vizag team visited
KL Rao Nagar Society (Gajuwaka), Shanthi Ashramam, and Greendale School
to interact with children and sensitise them about the concept of Safe
Touch and Unsafe Touch. Keeping with the momentum, YI Vizag, in the coming days, is going to share videos on its social media handles which will further enlighten people on the dangers of Child Sexual Abuse and the necessary steps that should be taken. In
a chat with Yo! Vizag, Supriya Surapaneni, a member of the Young
Indians Vizag team, stated that a key element in protecting children
from abuse is to keenly listen to them and believe what they are sharing
with us. It can be difficult for children to explain how they were
abused and hence, it is the adults’ responsibility to pick up on the
clues and decode whether they have been abused. It
is also important for all children to learn how to react in emergency
situations. When being forced into an uncomfortable situation, a child
must be taught to start shouting loudly or run away if possible. Parents
must also take up the duty to ensure that their children learn certain
contact numbers, like their own or the Child Helpline number: 1098. Supriya
also talked about the need to educate children about the sensitive body
parts which can only be touched by parents and no one else. Schools
also should take certain steps to build a safer environment for their
students. This can be done by regularly conducting interactions with
students and hence setting up a platform where students can raise their
grievances. YI Vizag also runs an initiative called ‘Train The Trainees’
where they explain to teachers, parents and caregivers how to listen to
children’s grievances in a sincere manner.
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