Child abuse on the rise in schools: Why authorities not cracking the whip?

With the incident of sexual abuse of a 6-year-old child at a school in Bangalore coming to fore, it has raised serious concerns about the safety of kids in schools. This has pointed out towards child sexual abuse (CSA) which is now becoming one of the worst perils that India is facing. Now even schools are not safe for children but the question is are we sensitising kids to tackle such cases?

A study by the women and child development ministry has made an astounding revelation that two out of three school children in India are physically abused. As per reports, the study which was conducted with the help of UNICEF, found that 70 per cent of the abused child respondents never even reported the matter and higher levels of abuse have been reported by children in the age-group of 5-12.

Out of many things, one is Corporal punishment which is banned in the school campuses but is it really followed and if someone defies such laws are they really punished?

In the name of corporal punishment

2 out of 3 Indian school kids are physically abused

Even after ban on the corporal punishment, why is it regularly defied by the teachers? It is because they don't get reprimanded for doing so and get away with it, unpunished. The recent video of an Andhra Pradesh teacher caning visually impaired student shocked everyone. The footage which came to fore shocked everyone and showed how in the name of corporal punishment, students are ruthlessly beaten by teachers. If such infractions are punished fittingly, then such incidents will not come into existence. Even in the Bangalore case, a six-year-old could have been spared from suffering the trauma if more attention could have paid on the same.

Why is the State Government silent?

Whenever any such incident occurs, either the state government initiates action against the school management or it directs the school management to take action against the employees concerned. But in this case, even after so much of outrage and anguish of people, neither the state government nor the school management is seen doing much about the incident.

The Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act, 2012

To strengthen the legal provisions for the protection of children from sexual abuse and exploitation, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, was passed by the Lok Sabha on May 22, 2012. The Bill was earlier passed by the Rajya Sabha on 10th May, 2012.
This special law was passed to address the issue of sexual offences against children.

Sexual offences are also covered under different sections of IPC but it does not cover all types of sexual offences against children and, more importantly, does not distinguish between adult and child victims.

The Act provides for stringent punishments for any of such offences and the punishments have been graded as per gravity of the offence. The punishments range from simple to rigorous imprisonment of varying periods. There is also provision for fine, which is to be decided by the Court.

Are we doing enough to protect our kids?

Although we talk about protecting school kids from the sexual and physical abuses, but do we also sensitise kids to prevent themselves from such incidents? As a society, how much are we doing to protect our kids from such incidents?

The most important step to get rid of this social evil must be awareness amongst the kids. Children must be made aware about all such things.

Child abuse throws a mirror to the society and tells a bitter truth to it. Instead of brushing this evil under the carpet, the government should crack the whip and punish the perpetrators so that they don't dare to commit such crimes.