Invitation to interactive session - Safe Schools: Supporting schools address child sexual abuse, holistically

When you know better,  you do better  - Maya Angelou

Protecting children is no longer an option – it is a responsibility vested in each one of us.  And schools are at the front line of child protection with a large part of the truly "awake" time of a child's waking hours being spent at school.

Needless to state the school and the community of educators are one of the most significant aspects of a child's  world and we also know that educators care for their students and their welfare and safety at all times.

A school’s integrity and worth is not based on whether cases of  sexual  violence  happen to children on its rolls. Instead it is based on the acceptance of the possibilities of  occurrence and preemptive steps taken to  both safeguard and respond in a timely and appropriate way to ensure that its children may benefit from its caring and foresight to truly have the right to be safe all the time, everywhere.

This in turn will greatly enhance their receptivity to academic inputs
 
Besides being legally liable, schools have an ethical responsibility to be forestalling and responsive. Furthermore  the sheer economic costs, direct or indirect,  of addressing  the lifelong effect of  adverse childhood experiences  on people’s lives,  compels creating a safe and protective school community   of paramount importance to educators

A first and crucial step to responding to the pervasive threat of CSA our children face, is increasing awareness of the realities.  To start with -  every child is vulnerable to being sexually abused, simply because it is not possible to profile abusers.  

The sexual abuse  of children cannot  happen in a vacuum. Various  factors together  are involved    which allow  for abuse to happen but  these very same aspects  when reworked,  can  provide for  a holistic and coordinated framework and processes to safeguard children in a school setting  and  establish a culture of safety.

Three essential areas which we will covering is a) the fact that technology is pervasive and no longer can we overlook the fact that children are ‘born digital’ which has  profound influence on their engagement with the world around them, b) the accountability of schools and educators as laid down in POCSO and c) the imperative urgency of child and youth serving facilities to  follow the Supreme Court’s direction to  develop and adhere to  child protection safeguards and standards which would have clear cut guidelines and protocols to provide for a safe and conducive environment for both children and their adult caregivers.

As part of a collective concern to ensure every child 's right to be safe all the time from sexual abuse Tulir – Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse and  The Millennium Lodge 327 are organizing  a half day interactive session on Saturday, July 13, 2019, 9.30 am  for school managements and educators to help sustain their efforts  in   fulfilling  this basic   obligation to their students. . The venue is in Egmore – details will be informed upon registration being confirmed.

Participation is limited to three representatives per school.  To register  and  for further details  please contact tulircphcsa@yahoo.co.in or call 26618026/43235867. Please be advised  that registration closes on July 11, 2019 and on-spot registrations will not be accepted.