Child rights activists call for sex education in schools

New Delhi, April 19: Sex education should be compulsory in all high schools in the country with the focus on explaining what constitutes child abuse, child rights activists said on Sunday. They demanded the setting up of a countrywide child helpline to report cases of abuse, and to train schoolchildren how to use it without revealing the me or identity of the victim and their family. The demand comes in the wake of the Supreme Court’s April 17 castigation of the central government for being insensitive towards the protection of child rights and for its reluctance to take effective steps to recover missing children. Blaming the ministry of women and child development for its “casual and insensitive” approach, the social justice bench of the apex court comprising Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit observed that “This is clear indication of the lack of sensitivity on the part of the government and the ministry towards the missing children and its utter disregard for the laws framed by the parliament.”  (IANS)