Awareness programs on child abuse

by S.M. Wijayaratne, Kurunegala Cor

Education programs numbering 500 on child abuse and prevention will be held at 50 government girls' schools in the Kurunegala and Puttalam districts of the North Western Province (NWP) early next year on the instructions of Child Development and Women's Affairs Minister Tissa Karaliyadda. Around 150 Women Police Constables, senior women schoolteachers and officials of the Probation and Childcare Department would take part in these programs to educate senior female students, teachers and parents.

NWP Chief Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara will provide monetary allocations to the tune of two million rupees for this purpose. Special committees comprising parents, teachers and past students would be set up at all government schools in the NWP next year to ensure the safety of students against child abuse and to bring the culprits to book, said English Instructor of the Wayamba University S.M. Anupama Priyadarshani.