It’s a Sunday afternoon, and a school counsellor is getting ready to head to the home of a girl who turned 18 years old this month but is six months pregnant. If it is established that the girl is 18, and not 19 as her Aadhaar card shows, a case will have to be registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the girl would be moved to a women’s home.
Another counsellor receives a midnight call from a student that the person her mother is in a relationship with is trying to abuse her. The counsellor immediately calls up child protection agencies, following which the man is arrested.
Like them, there are 666 psychosocial counsellors at the school level in the State. They are usually the first person a student approaches when in dilemma, especially those related to sexual abuse, as they are not comfortable confiding in parents, teachers, or even friends. But rarely do counsellors get credit for their work.
“When such a case comes to our attention, we inform headmasters, and then child welfare agencies or the police. But our role is not acknowledged. Even headmasters and parent-teacher associations are scared about adverse publicity,” a counsellor said.
Though they are the first to know about such cases and closely interact with students, once students are produced in front of the Child Welfare Committee and moved to childcare institutions, their role ends abruptly. Without proper follow-up, especially in cases where children are sent to childcare homes, they tend to drift back, to the same circumstances from which they came. Counsellors, therefore, try to accommodate students in homes nearby so as to keep in touch with them and provide support.
New challenges
They face other challenges too. They are posted to additional schools if the student strength is low, and may end up visiting up to four schools.
“Though an issue needs our attention, we are forced to reschedule meetings with students till our next visit. In sexual abuse cases where counselling and support is required throughout, the Child Development Project Officer is informed so that we can go back and meet the student.” Again, there are schools with thousands of students, but only one counsellor. Identifying students needing help in such schools is an uphill task.
Though the Psychosocial Service Project, started in 2009, is intended to provide help to girls, it is not possible to ignore boys in a school, they point out.
And then, the role of counsellors is not without risks.
A child may deny being abused following pressure from family, putting counsellors in a spot. Pressure comes from people with influence and anti-social elements too. One counsellor tells of a case in which a fellow counsellor was harassed by a goon and had to seek police protection.
On the other hand, not all schools have adequate infrastructure, including rooms ensuring students’ privacy.
“We make do by partitioning off some space or using the library, or even the verandah,” a counsellor says.
There are also instances were abused students were given TCs, despite it being no fault of theirs.