HMs, education officers trained in dealing with kids under POCSO Act

CHENNAI : The School Education Department in collaboration with the Social Defence Department conducted a training in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for 32 school headmasters and headmistresses and all Chief Education Officers (CEO) here on Wednesday. They were told to lodge criminal complaints, when children raise sexual harassment allegations and were briefed on the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in such situations.

“The first place where children open up about their problems would be the school. We are training teachers to listen to them and spot it when there is a problem. We also told them about the next set of actions they should take, if they find a child sexually harassed,” said S Dhanasekara Pandian, Joint Director of the Social Defence Department, speaking at the event.

The officers and teachers were also informed of the role of government bodies such as the Child Welfare Committees, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and Tamilnadu Commission for Protection of Child Rights (TNCPCR), and methods to approach them. All attendees were given a booklet with SOP for different situations.

“There are district-level local complaints committees that school authorities should reach out to, when children allege sexual harassment,” said Thiruvalar Selvi, Chennai educational district CEO.The training took place at Presidency Girls Higher Secondary School, Egmore, which was renovated into a model school by the School Education Department. The training was used as a chance to show the model school officers and teachers. 

The department recently announced that a model school will be chosen and renovated in every district with upgraded labs, libraries and classrooms, among other things, in the next two months. A total of 32 schools were chosen across the State and the headmasters or headmistresses of the schools were invited to attend the training.The principal secretary to the School Education Department, Pradeep Yadav, elaborated on the modus operandi to create a model school.