Child protection units to be strengthened in schools

Tamil Nadu State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), the nodal agency that decides the school curriculum, was entrusted to implement and monitor CRP units in all schools across the State in 2019. 

Accordingly, the then director of SCERT G Arivoli had asked the Directorate of School Education and the Directorate of Elementary Education to establish protection centres in middle and higher secondary school level and produce an action-taken report. 

A senior official from the School Education Department, seeking anonymity, said though action-taken reports have been received from both the directorates during mid-2019, monitoring of CRP centres was not done on a regular basis. Stating that the role of the units should be to maintain records of children needing care and protection and to report cases of child abuse to the police or other authorities concerned, he said, “Though schools have reported that CRP units have formed, many institutions don’t maintain students’ data and the initiative was only on paper.” 

Now, authorities should ensure that CRP centres in primary and middle schools are handled by two teachers, three parents and one official from Centre’s scheme Samagra while centres in higher secondary schools would be led by two male and two female teachers, comprising two parents and four students (two boys and two girls). 

The official added that as the competition for better results in schools has grown in recent times, most teachers who handle child protection units were not fully engaged in CRP activities. “The regular activities of these centres include discussions, debates, quiz, storytelling among others,” he said, adding, “Most teachers, who were engaged in academic works, could not carry out activities at these centres.” 

Claiming that even most parents were not taking up responsibilities of child protection centres, officials pointed out that their participation would also be monitored.