CHILDREN

What a truly delightful evening it was on the 9th, celebrating the magic of monsoon with some 30 children!  The 20 member team from Snehadhara Foundation (SF) led by Geetu had come well in advance to welcome the children. Despite the fact that only 4 or 5 kids had arrived on time, we began the event at the scheduled time of 5 p.m. The late-comers missed the warming up and sing along. Adult and child alike sat on the floor of the Gazebo and introductions began with each participant adding an "O" or "Aa" to their names.    Geetu dramatized…

Namma Bengaluru Foundation, in association with a group of parents of Vibgyor school has launched a campaign to make Bangalore safer children. The campaign called “Child Safe Bengaluru,” aims at adequate preventive and corrective measures that will ensure safety to every child in the schools of the city. The activities aim to include, effective participation of the Departments of Government such as Education, Transport, Police, Judiciary, Children, Parents, Schools, Media, Elected officials, Policy Makers and various NGOs in ensuring that child protection, child welfare and child rights are effectively controlled and measured. The initiative has already garnered positive impact, with…

Time and again we hear about cases of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) getting reported and complaints being filed. While this is a sign of awareness among public on CSA itself and the legal steps they can take, there are many who are unaware of the law, because of which there might be some cases of abuse which may not have got the attention they deserve. What is Child Sexual Abuse? Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) is the exploitation of a child by an adult or an older adolescent for sexual stimulation. It can include engaging in sexual activities with a child,…

Bangalore parents have woken up to increasingly depressing days as incident after incident of child sexual abuse (CSA) gets reported in the city. There have been numerous suggestions on social media to tackle CSA, ranging from the naïve to the critical. 1. Password: In the naïve category is a popular forwarded post from an organization called Kids Time that advises teaching your child a password; if a stranger asks the child to accompany him/her, the child asks for the password and scares away the potential abuser.Password trick being circulated on social media. Will it work? This solution is very naive…

Police team in the press conference where the arrest of two people was announced. Pic: Nikita Malusare Bengaluru police nabbed two more people in relation to Vibgyor High School Marathahalli incident. Bangalore Police Commissioner, M N Reddi informed in a press conference held on July 29, 2014, that gym instructors Waseem Pasha (28) and Lalgiri (21) have been arrested on the basis of investigation and CCTV footage. They also claimed that the incident took place on July 3, 2014, contrary to the complaint filed by the parents of the abused child in Varthur police station that puts the date as…

After the huge, city-wide wave of protests that we saw in the wake of the rape of a six-year-old schoolgirl, we now have a set of ‘guidelines’ issued by the city police on July 26, for ensuring safety of students. Read through the details, and you find the kind of chicanery and lack of genuine regard for equity that marks most of the official responses to social problems. The report says that while the guidelines have been mandated for private schools with a deadline of August 31. “The police may not insist on government schools to implement the guidelines as…

Children from government school in Kaikondrahalli walking back home. Pic: Shree D N The anger of not just parents in Bengaluru, but that of all adults concerned with the safety of children plays out through media and talk shows, through demonstrations and protest walks. As outraged parents and civil society groups meet government officials and senior police officers, school administrators and lawyers, there is deep satisfaction that everybody is taking this incident with the seriousness it deserves. The parents have put forth a 40-point charter for child safety standards which they want schools to follow. It includes trained security staff, CCTVs…

In April 2014, a young boy from Noble Saint English School, Kadugondana Halli in Bengaluru, appeared for his SSLC exam. This was his third attempt at the clearing his 10th standard exams. When the results were announced two months later, he had cleared all papers but one - Mathematics. Young Fayaz at his home, with his Mathematics text book. Pic: Ganga Madappa The young boy is Fayaz and he is a quadriparetic. Quadriparesis, the condition that Fayaz is inflicted with, refers to muscle weakness affecting all four limbs. Due to his condition, Fayaz cannot lift his hands or walk. The…

  Going by media reports, it appears as if there is a sudden spurt of crime against women and children, in the garden city known for peace. However, according to the data, it shows that the crime against women and children always existed, in all parts of the state and the country. It is not true that Vibgyor is the only school that such a ghastly incident took place. There are other schools in which such incidents happened, but escaped media limelight. The bottomline is, crime against children in the city always existed, to which we as a society chose…

M N Reddi addressin the media. Pic: Nikita Malusare Vibgyor High school chairman Rustum Kerawalla has been arrested on Tuesday evening, July 22, 2014, by the Bangalore city Police in Daman in connection with the rape case, and will be brought to Bangalore. Bangalore Police Commissioner M N Reddi announced this in a press conference held at the Police Commissioner’s office on Infantry Road on Wednesday, July 23, 2014. Rustum Kerawalla was produced in front of second additional sessions court, Bangalore Rural, and was released on bail, on the condiction that he should present himself in Varthur police station once…