Women drivers to be trained for safety of kids

To ensure safety of school children, the government on Monday decided to put information about Pocso e-box and child helpline 1098 in the textbooks. A Pocso and child helpline booth will also be put in place in schools.

The decisions were taken at a high-level meeting headed by Union ministers Maneka Gandhi and Prakash Javadekar to develop a protocol for educational institutions to ensure safety of students in the wake of growing incidents of sexual assaults on children in schools.

Speaking to reporters, WCD minister Maneka Gandhi stated that a decision has also been taken to ensure female drivers for school buses. “Women will be trained for this through the Nirbhaya fund,” she added. A special movie, Komal, aimed at educating children to the good and bad touch will also be shown in schools.

Apart from the ministers, the meeting was attended by top officials of the ministries of women and child development

Sources in the ministry stated that the schools will also be asked to ensure proper gender sensitisation among students

and human resource development as well as representative of the National Commission of Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), CBSE, NCERT and Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.

Sources in the ministry stated that the schools will also be asked to ensure proper gender sensitisation among students. Textbooks would also have details about Pocso e-box and child helpline 1098.

Sources stated that the school management committee will also have more involvement of parents and their role is likely to be defined through law. While such committees are only present in government schools, these will now be extended to private schools, sources added. It is understood that the NCPCR has been asked to prepare a school security and safety audit review.