Now, it has issued a ‘code of conduct’ for mentors, spelling out that they are not to initiate or encourage physical contact or sexual relations with a child and that they are not to share any pornographic material. The Directorate of Education has issued a recommended code of conduct for mentors who have signed up for the government’s flagship ‘Desh ke Mentor’ programme to regulate interactions between them and students assigned to them as ‘mentees’.
In January, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights had written to the Delhi government asking it to suspend this programme “till the time when all loopholes pertaining to the safety of the children are overhauled”.
It had raised concerns over the possibility of enrolled children being exposed to abuse by people designated as mentors, with whom they are supposed to speak regularly on the phone. While the government did not suspend the programme, it issued an advisory for parents to supervise the phone calls and had mandated that there be no physical meetings.
Now, it has issued a ‘code of conduct’ for mentors, spelling out that they are not to initiate or encourage physical contact or sexual relations with a child and that they are not to share any pornographic material.
The points also include not contacting children after 8 pm; not asking any child to meet alone; not asking personal details; not interacting with them “under the influence of intoxicating substances”;and not collecting photos, videos or stories of children and not uploading these on blogs or social networking sites.
Apart from this, the department has shared a complaint redressal mechanism by the DCPCR for POCSO cases and the list of all Child Welfare Committees with heads of schools and teachers as a “step further in the direction to ensure safety and security of mentees”.
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