Nawanshahr- As per the guidelines received from District Program Officer Jagroop Singh in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district, an awareness program was organized today in Government Primary School Jhingaran, Nawanshahr under the leadership of District Child Protection Officer Kanchan Arora to make children and school staff aware about child rights and POCSO Act.
During this, Child Protection Officer (IC) Gaurav Sharma, while giving information about POCSO Act and child rights, said that a safe environment is necessary for the all-round development of boys and girls, for which the government has implemented the POCSO Act to provide legal protection to children, so that children between zero to 18 years do not have to face any kind of exploitation. He said that under the POCSO Act, there is a provision of strict punishment to any person who misbehaves with children between zero to 18 years.
He asked the school teachers to discuss this sensitive topic with the children openly, so that the children can know about good and bad behaviour. Giving information to the children about good touch and bad touch, Gaurav Sharma said that if any child is abused in any way, then he can freely tell his parents or his teacher about it so that appropriate action can be taken against the person who abused under the POCSO Act with the help of the police department.
Apart from this, Kanta, posted as an outreach worker under the Child Protection Unit, informed the children about the sponsorship and foster care scheme given to them, under which financial assistance is provided to needy and helpless children to continue their education. Two children of a family, any widow, divorced woman or single parent can take advantage of this scheme and children whose parents are suffering from an incurable disease or one of the parents of the children is in jail, such children come under the sponsorship scheme. If any needy and helpless child wants to take advantage of this scheme, he can contact the District Administrative Complex, 3rd Floor, Room No. 413. Apart from this, children were also made aware about Child Line number 1098. Refreshments were also served to the children during the program. On this occasion, school children as well as school staff members were also present.