by Kimberly Pereira for BISMumbai

Don Bosco Senior Secondary School organised a webinar on Child Protection Policy, for its teaching, office, and non-teaching staff on 13 March 2021 via Google Meet, in English and Hindi, in 02 sessions. Yvette Lee, a counsellor with Pillai College, Panvel animated the webinar Rector-Father Barnabe D’souza introduced Lee, after which, the seminar began with an initial interaction of understanding ‘who a child is’ and ‘what do we see children as’. Lee also enlightened the attendees about making schools and staff safe, supportive, inclusive, engaging and challenging for the benefit and development of a child.

Also highlighted was physical, emotional, and sexual abuse for commercial gains. In-depth and valuable information on different types of abuses, myths related to these abuses, the way in which they could occur and the people responsible, was discussed. One of the most crucial topics that was addressed was 'sexual abuse' specifically pertaining to the POCSO Act. A detailed discussion about the types of sexual abuse, punishments offered for the offence by law, signs and symptoms of an individual being abused and other essential guidelines were provided.

A Q& A session post the input was insightful with discussion on exposing children to the evolving world of the internet, as well as how to manage students with regard to gender, relationships issues, and the most prevalent concerns. The duty of educators to empower children to make the right decisions by being accepting, non-judgemental and sensitive, creating a safe and trusted environment was underscored emphatically.

Josena Varghese, proposed the vote of thanks, for the keen interest in educating the staff with such important topics. and especially to Yvette Lee for her valuable inputs on the Child Protection Policy.