Ensuring children know how to protect themselves

Khanh Hoa Department of Labor, War Invalids & Social Affairs in cooperation with schools has boosted child care and protection over the past years, focusing on extracurricular activities to ensure that children know how to protect themselves.

 

School education

 

A training session on boosting child self-defense and risk prevention skills has just taken place at Thai Nguyen Junior High School, Nha Trang City with the participation of more than 100 students. Knowledge and skills were provided together with sharing related real-life stories, making the education on child sex abuse control and prevention appealing and persuasive, helping students and teachers understand more about the current issue of child abuse. Basic skills against abuse were showed visually, making it easy to understand to ensure children know to react in risky situations.

 

 

 

 

 

The extracurricular activity provided a supportive and comfortable environment for children to share their thoughts and ideas about the sensitive issue. Ngo Hanh Uyen, Class 7/10 said,"The education session gave me legal knowledge about child abuse prevention and control and self-defense skills when encountering risky situations."

 

Besides Thai Nguyen Junior High School, the department held propaganda sessions at Me Linh Junior High School (Van Ninh District) and Chu Van An Junior High School (Ninh Hoa Town) in June with the participation of more than 300 students. This activity not only raised students’ awareness of gender issues but also continued enhancing the coordination between schools, families and society on proactively preventing child abuse and violence, maintaining safe and healthy school environment, according to Nguyen Dinh Hong Loan, Deputy Chief of Office of Social Protection, Children & Gender Equality (Khanh Hoa Department of Labor, War Invalids & Social Affairs).

 

Close cooperation required

 

Over the past time, schools in Khanh Hoa have cooperated with the Department of Labor, War Invalids & Social Affairs to take child protection measures, including checking standards for safe, sound and friendly education environment; ensuring child abuse and violence prevention and control; developing child protection reference models at schools for students to report risky signs and behaviors; timely dealing with suspected cases of child abuse and violence.

 

In addition, schools have boosted campaigns on building “safe, beautiful and clean schools”, “friendly schools and active learners”; timely detected signs of child abuse and violence; and reported such cases to local authorities for investigation and prosecution.

 

“The school organizes child abuse and violence prevention skill education sessions every month; and strengthens coordination between schools, families and the society to proactively prevent school violence, child abuse in an effort to ensure a safe environment for children at home, at school and in the community,” says Nguyen Thi Quynh Hoa, Principal of Phuoc Tien Primary School.

 

School education on skills to prevent and combat violence and child abuse still faces some difficulties due to lack of facilities. Schools with no fence may expose learners to insecurity as strangers easily access schools at any time. Some parents are ignorant of teaching their children skills to recognize and prevent violence and abuse risks. Therefore, joint effort between families, schools and the society in child abuse and violence prevention is required to ensure a safe and healthy environment for children.

 

Thanh Truc

Translated by N.T