A committee, recently formed by the Goa government to suggest ways to avoid offences of rape or sexual attacks on minors in schools, has come out with a recommendation for making sex education a compulsory part of school curriculum.
The committee, chaired by MLA Vishnu Surya Wagh, was formed around two months back following the alleged rape of a school girl at Vasco town in January this year and a case of girl's molestation by her teacher in Panaji last year. The girl later committed suicide.
The panel has come out with an elaborate report suggesting ways of curbing such crimes.
"Health and sex education should be made mandatory in the school curriculum. The department should also organise talks by resource persons, open forums, workshops, street plays and others to make students, teachers and the public aware about the sex education," the committee has said in the report.
"Police clearance for appointment of teachers in any school should be made compulsory," the report recommends, adding that any teacher with criminal background should not be allowed to join the school.
The panel has also suggested full day school, as according to them "the present pattern of school time seems to make children more vulnerable to sexual assaults."
"Most of the parents are working in public or private sectors. They drop children to school in the morning and return home in the evening," the report reads.
The committee members also feel that the children going to tuitions without parental watch adds to the risk of them getting in touch with strangers.
"The education department should seriously view the prospect of having a full day school between 9 AM and 5 PM," the committee has recommended.
