The Centre is likely to come up with a white paper on the issue next month; HRD ministry is in talks with specialist NGOs to draft a strategy that works.
New Delhi: Alarmed by the spate of sexual assault cases emerging from schools across the country, the Union human resource development (HRD) ministry is tapping specialist NGOs and civil society groups to chalk out a strategy to tackle the problem.
The Centre expects to have a white paper ready on the issue by next month, sources told ThePrint.
The move comes in the wake of an assault of a four-year-old by her classmate in a Delhi school.
Top HRD ministry officials told ThePrint that a dialogue had already been initiated with a group of NGOs that are working in the area of child sexual abuse.
“It is felt that there are already many laws and guidelines in place to address the issue of child sexual abuse. However, that is clearly not enough. We are deeply concerned about ensuring the safety of children, especially in schools,” a ministry official said.
“We have already begun a dialogue with some of the NGOs and we are quite optimistic that a more effective system can be brought in at the school level to address this problem. We hope to have a white paper ready by mid-December,” the official added.
Among the NGOs that the government is in touch with is Mumbai-based Arpan, which has worked in the area.
There is also awareness within the government system that the absence of a comprehensive sex education programme and deliberate gender-based segregation are also factors that need to be addressed besides the need to bring in a full-fledged and pro-active counselling mechanism at schools.
The women and child development ministry as well as the HRD ministry had held meetings to examine ways to ensure child safety at schools following the murder of a student at a Gurugram school.
The HRD ministry had issued detailed guidelines in 2013 to address child safety issues, including verification of school teachers and other staff as well as bringing in bus safety norms. However, there has been no let up in the number of child sexual assaults over the years.
The assessment of the government is that the menace is probably far more rampant than reported and hence the need to address using means other than laws and guidelines.