Child rights body and IIT-Kanpur develop kit to spread sexual abuse awareness

The apex child rights body, in collaboration with IIT-Kanpur, has developed a kit to spread awareness about sexual abuse among children by using interactive means to teach them about personal safety, respecting their body, and overcoming guilt.

The kit is a set of cards, posters, short animation clips and games, which can be used by teachers or an NGO to conduct an interactive workshop for children about sexual abuse awareness, according to the minutes of the 38th statutory meeting of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).

Noting that an unaware child may easily fall prey to sexual abuse without realising that s/he is wronged, the commission said the kit would help in spreading awareness as any kind of physical or psychological abuse could scar a child forever.

“Through the workshop, children learn about personal safety, respecting their body and overcoming guilt,” it said. “It also gets children to talk about this issue with their peers and understand that they need to speak up, which many kids don't.”

The kit also features game cards as an intervention to assess the learning acquired by children. It can be used in classrooms for kids aged between 8-12 years and in a group of 30-35 students in one session. It has manuals, reading, and video material for the teacher or workshop facilitator to read and understand how to conduct the workshop.

The workshop kit has been vetted by the psychologists at Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi, and a revised version will be developed based on their feedback.

(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)

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