| A Seminar on the Report of Schoolteacher’s opinion on introduction of Child Sexual Abuse in School Curriculum. |
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Breaking the Silence organized a seminar on the report of “ School teacher’s opinion on introduction of child sexual abuse in School curriculum” on 27 November, 07 at National Press Club Conference room. Rokeya Mannan, Co- Chairperson, Breaking the Silence presided over the seminar. Prof. Zohra Umme Hasan, Director (Planning and development), Directorate of Secondary and higher education, was the Special Guest.
Breaking the Silence believes if children, their guardians and their teachers are made aware of sexual abuse then in many cases such incidents can be prevented. Creating awareness on this issue is the most important thing, which BTS cannot do alone. For this reason, BTS has undertaken a course of actions to create mass awareness by the coordination of the people of every level of the society. Participators of different programmes regarding prevention of child sexual abuse suggest that this issue should be included in the schools text. And the teachers play the most important role, because She/he is a guardian of her/ his child , beside this he is also a guardian of many children in the school. This is why their opinion will be very much effective in the introduction of such course curriculum as well as in prevention of child sexual abuse. In this objectives BTS has conducted an opinion survey among the school teachers in the seven thanas of seven districts.
This report is an out come of the opinion poll of school teachers for incorporating the sexual issue as safety education in the text curriculum for prevention of the child sexual abuse.
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| The main purpose of this study was to generate information to advocate the policy and decision makers to include child sexual abuse (CSA) related safety education in the school curriculum and to create awareness among the teachers and students for its prevention. Overall objective of the study was to understand the opinion of the schoolteachers about introduction of safety education in school textbook curriculum for prevention of sexual violence against children. |
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Assess the knowledge and attitude of the schoolteachers about child rights, child abuse and CSA; |
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Understand the teachers’ opinion if there is a need to include safety education in the school curriculum for prevention of CSA; |
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Assess teachers’ opinion regarding appropriate grade/class/age for introduction of sessions on CSA at school; |
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Have teachers’ recommendations on contents of the curriculum related to prevention of CSA; |
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Assess the training needs of the teachers for taking CSA related sessions in the classroom. |
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| Conclusion and Recommendations |
Large majority of the teachers is aware about the child rights and child sexual abuse, although about half did not know the exact definition of a child. The teachers were well aware about the occurrence of child sexual abuse in the community and at school. Overwhelming majority was in favor of introduction of safety education at school and their recommendation was to include it at grade five and in the social science book. The teachers also suggested a number of topics for inclusion in the curriculum. Majority of the teachers would feel comfortable for taking sessions on CSA prevention. However, they would require formal training on the subject.
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The study findings indicate that the teachers are greatly in favor of introduction of safety education at school. They also showed confidence in teaching the subject in the classroom. However, introduction of safety education for prevention of CSA in the school curriculum is a big challenge. It would require strong lobbing and advocacy with the government policy and decision-makers to overcome this challenge. Involving other rights-based organizations to advocate the policy makers may play a great role to achieve the goal. |
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b) The title for the chapter on safety education for prevention of CSA may be “Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse” as recommended by the teachers. Similarly, the sessions on safety education may be introduced at grade/class five. |
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Although, the teachers suggested a number of topics for inclusion in the safety education, it is recommended to have the opinion from the educationists, child psychologists and senior teachers to finally decide on the topics. This may be achieved through forming a committee at national level involving the GOB (such as, Ministry of Education, Primary Education Board, and others as relevant), NGOs, Human Rights Organizations and Civil Society. |
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d) The teachers have provided a number of suggestions for prevention of child sexual abuse at school and in the community. One of those is formation of a school committee for prevention of CSA involving the teachers, guardians and students. However, all the schools already have a committee (School Management Committee), which includes teachers, representatives from the local government and guardians. It is therefore, recommended to activate the committee and include CSA in the agenda of regular school committee meetings, rather than forming a new committee on CSA. This would require advocacy with the existing school committee members and regular monitoring of the activities. |
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e) This study shows that the teachers are well aware of occurrence of child abuse (including sexual abuse) at school and in the community. However, it was not possible to quantify the extent of the problem at school and in the community, identify the types of sexual abuse, children at risk, and people committing this crime (perpetrators) for better understanding of CSA through this study. It is therefore recommended to conduct an exploratory study to understand the extent of the problem, and other issues related to child sexual abuse at school and in the community. The information may be useful in designing the curriculum as well as to advocate the policy and decision-makers for inclusion of safety education in the school curriculum. |
In this seminar all the participants praised this initiative for protecting the child sexual abuse. They advised for more advocacy on this issue , so that it may be incorporated in the text curriculum.
The special guest delivered her speech in the light of CRC Article No 34. She recommended to write a requesting letter for incorporating this issue in the text curriculum to the Secretary of Education Ministry and the Chairman of National Text Book Board. |
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