Teachers urged to create awareness about child abuse

Punjab University Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Zakaria Zakir has said that school is the most important institution to create awareness about child rights and school teachers can play pivotal role to sensitize children for prevention of child abuse. He said there was need to do scientific research on this subject to train school teachers to perform such responsibilities to curb child abuse cases. He was addressing a seminar on "Child abuse: Role of teacher education institutions" organized by PU Institute of Education and Research.
Dean Faculty of Education Professor Dr Mumtaz Akhter, Director IER Professor Dr Rafaqat Ali Akbar, Chairman Hall Council Professor Dr Abid Hussain Chaudhry, Heads of various departments, faculty members and a large number of students were present on the occasion. Addressing the seminar, Dr Zakaria Zakir said that teachers' role for child abuse prevention and creating awareness among children about child rights had been neglected in the past. He said that we taught students how to do 'plus minus' but we don't teach them how they could protect themselves and what were their rights. He said that efforts must be made to improve our schools' environment. He urged IER administration to establish a research centre for scientific study on role of teachers in eradication of different types of child abuse because children were the number one victims of several types of violence. He said that after this scientific research, we would develop a popular narrative for the benefit of our society against child abuse. He said that children were our future and protection of children's right must be our top priority because it was a matter of our survival.
Addressing the seminar, the speakers said that there were four types of abuses ie physical abuse, educational abuse, emotional abuse and sexual abuse the children were facing. They said that our parents must create self-confidence among children. They said that the children must feel that they were being patronized by parents and a congenial environment should be provided to them so that they could share such matters with them.