Chandigarh Commission for Protection of Child Rights (CCPCR) organized Capacity Building Program for the Principals of all government schools of U.T. Chandigarh

The Voice of Chandigarh :

Chandigarh Commission for Protection of Child Rights (CCPCR) organized Capacity Building Program for the Principals of all government schools of U.T. Chandigarh to sensitize about various legal provisions of POCSO Act-2012, Right to Education Act-2009 and also to talk on safety and security of children in schools at Convention Hall, Chandigarh Judicial Academy, sector 43, Chandigarh.

Satya Pal Jain, Chairman, Social Welfare Advisory Committee -cum- Addl. Solicitor General of India, Ex-MP & Ms. Purva Garg, IAS, Secretary Education, Chandigarh Administration graced the occasion as the Chief Guest and Guest of Honour.

While welcoming the dignitaries and participants, Shipra Bansal, Chairperson, CCPCR introduced the theme of the occasion. She further highlighted that role of education department is of paramount importance in wellbeing of children. Therefore it becomes more essential that being the heads of the schools must make effective endeavors for the safety and overall development of their students. She focused on mandatory reporting of any case of child abuse to the concerned authorities, sensitization of students about their rights/duties, obligation of media to maintain the confidentiality of child abuse cases. She emphasized on handing child issues with a sensitive approach.

Ms. Purva Garg, IAS, Secretary Education, Chandigarh Administration encouraged the participants to work as a team to fill the existing gaps for the child safety in her key note address. She further congratulated the CCPCR for conducting this much needed capacity building programme.

In his presidential remarks, the Chief Guest admired Chairperson, CCPCR for her tireless efforts towards making Chandigarh-A Child Friendly City. Additionally he emphasized on the need of effective implementation of the child related laws in letter and spirit. He further focused on adopting a child centric approach by the school heads. He also advised the CCPCR to translate the various bare acts of child protection in Hindi and Punjabi language and circulate to the concerned stakeholders so that these can be easily accessible to all.

Surender Kumar, Member Secretary, State Legal Service Authority, Chandigarh threw light on Protection of Children from sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012 and said that the principals should ensure the safety and security of students and if any case of sexual abuse happens then immediate reporting of such incident must be done by the school authorities to the local police/Child Welfare Committee, District Child Protection Unit and Child Helpline. He talked about the various provisions as mentioned in the concerned act. He also told the participant principals to frame and adopt a child protection policy for safeguarding rights of children.

Ms. Monica Chawla, Principal, St. Joseph Sr. Sec. School, Chandigarh talked about main core areas of Right To Education Act-2009 while Pooja Punchhi, Member, CCPCR highlighted the need of mental wellbeing of students along with their physical health.

Vijay K Kaushal, CEO/Founder, Multi Dimension Web Solutions, Chandigarh and Sh. B.P.S Bakshi, Managing Director, Safety Circle Pvt Ltd, Chandigarh discussed on Safety and Security of Children in Schools. They took session on they will take session on ‘Heerakshi Social Audit’ Mobile App.

Open house session was also conducted to answer and discuss the queries of all the participants.
Vote of thanks was extended by Dr. Monica Singh, Member, CCPCR to all. Sanjay Sharma, Member, CCPCR, Prabhjot Kaur, Dy. Director School Education, Bindu Arora, District Education Officer, School Education, Arvind Sangvi, Director, Jan Shikshan Sansthan, Chandigarh, Kartar Singh, Legal Consultant, CCPCR, Arvind K Dhawan, Sr. Assistant, CCPCR, Ankita, POCSO Consultant and Shekhar, Clerk, CCPCR were also present during this training program.