Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir High Court has sought a comprehensive report from government whether directions on creating awareness about child abuses in schools across the state. School Education Department issued directions to the Directors of School Education for the two provinces—Jammu and Kashmir on March 7. As per the directions, the Head Masters and the Principals of the Government and the private educational institutions are to issue necessary orders to create awareness about child abuse, notify necessary helplines and to nominate one teacher in every school, who is sensitive to child abuse issues before whom complaints could be made freely by a child undergoing such abuse, within the school premises. It has also been directed that the counselling cells, which had been set up, be activated in the Directorates regarding child abuse. “These instructions were issued on 07.03.2018. It would be necessary for us to ascertain whether these instructions have been complied with by all the Head Masters and the Principals of the Government and the private educational institutions,” a division bench of Chief Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed and Justice Sanjeev Kumar said while hearing a Public Interest Litigation. The division bench also directed Directors of School Education for Jammu and Kashmir provinces to expedite the process without any delay and to ensure that the court’s orders and the instructions issued by the education department in compliance to its orders are complied with immediately. “A comprehensive status report shall be filed within four weeks as indicated above, giving clear particulars about the compliance of the directions by each of the schools in every part of the State,” the court said and posted the PIL for further consideration on April 16.
