Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Dec 27: Shocking data has come to light amid rising sexual activity among adolescents in the state. With a fresh case reported at a private school in Channarayapatna of Hassan district, the number of teenage students becoming pregnant in Karnataka has risen to three within the last six months.
Experts, including the chairperson of the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, have attributed such incidents to the absence of child protection policies and committees in schools, lack of awareness about the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, poor understanding of the reproductive process, and ignorance among parents.
Commission chairperson Shashidhar Kosambe stated that the failure to implement the Karnataka State Child Protection Policy, 2016 in schools, especially residential schools in districts such as Yadgir and Koppal, is a major contributing factor.
As per the policy, every school should have a child protection committee comprising two teachers or school officials and two external members working in the interest of children’s rights, ensuring that complaints are handled without bias.
Monitoring children and school staff is the responsibility of the committee. Awareness programmes on the child protection policy, the POCSO Act, and sexual abuse should be conducted for students and staff, and sex education should be included in the curriculum, he said.
He further stressed that police must be informed immediately once a case is detected. The policy and the committee should be treated as an integral part of the system and not as an additional burden, he added.
It was also pointed out that many adolescent girls become pregnant after being sexually abused by their male friends. Due to the reactions of those around them, victims often undergo severe physical changes and psychological trauma.
Therefore, whenever teenage pregnancies are identified, especially those involving sexual abuse, the victims are counselled with the sensitivity of a family member, said Dr Chandrashekhar, professor of psychiatry at the ESI Hospital, Rajajinagar.