STOP Child Sexual Abuse in India through Education

We continue to give sessions on Basic Understanding of Child Sexual Abuse in schools in our city. Thanks to some help from a local woman, we have been able to access the nursery schools within the Naval Base and the response has been very positive with both the teachers and the parents.

We have had very mixed feedback when it comes to our workbook for 4-6-year-olds (see attached), especially with 2 pages in particular. Pages 8 & 9 are to teach the children about the names of the body parts. The images are very simple and the words are correct but many people here seem offended by this and prefer to keep children in the dark about words related to the “private parts”.

One of the problems faced by children is that they are not equipped to talk about an unsafe touch because they are don’t have the words.

This problem starts with the adults themselves who were never taught how to discuss this topic and who are mostly very embarrassed by it. Sexuality education in schools is generally one lesson in a Biology class where kids are asked to read through the reproductive system on their own. Teachers find it tough to address. Even many women who have had children of their own, know that menstruation happens to girls at puberty but many do not know why it happens.

Tomorrow two of our staff will participate in the Southern Region Meeting on Adolescent Sexuality and the Law which will cover among other themes: Adolescents and Health-Related Concerns, Child Marriage, and Sexual Consent. We would like to be able to bring back this topic to Kochi and hold a conference of our own to discuss the importance of adults opening up conversations with their teenagers and finding it comfortable talking about sexuality. All this would also help avoid children looking for and learning about sexuality from the Internet.

We thank you for your continued support which allows us to work towards preventing child sexual abuse.

• My Safety and Me (PDF)