Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, March 19: Several English medium schools of the city have formed a complaint committee comprising six members as per the instruction given by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) recently in order to prevent gender violence and child abuse in their schools.
The committee in each school is headed by its principal. Two teachers, one male and another female, two students of the school, one boy and another girl, and one non-teaching staff, whose duty is to take care of the children, constitute the other members of the committee.
“We have noticed that gender violence and child abuse have become major concerns for the parents. CBSE has taken a right decision to tackle such violence on the school premises. We have formed a committee where any children of the school can register complaints and the committee will take stern action against the accused. We regularly hold meetings and spread awareness among students, especially the girls,” said Jugal Kishore Mohanty, principal, Buxi Jagabandhu EnglishMedium School.
Besides, the CBSE has also asked all its affiliated schools to sensitize its teaching, non-teaching and management staff about the provision of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act(POCSO).
Surama Khadanga, the principal of the MBS Public School said, “We think all the children of our school are our own. Therefore, it is our responsibility to protect them from all kinds of violence. Not only we have formed a committee as per the instruction (of the CBSE) but also we have made children aware so that they can call the child helpline number, 1098, if they experience any kinds of harassments. Besides, we teach them the tactics that would keep them safe.”
Many prominent schools affiliated to the CBSE have also installed CCTV cameras to keep constant vigil. “We have installed CCTV cameras in every major corner and in many places where girls spend their leisure times. However, no such cases (of gender violence or child abuse) have been spotted so far. We are glad that our institute is considered child-abuse-free school to date,” said Sujata, principal of one of the DAV Public Schools in city.
