Ramakrishna Sathish K, Sharma Eesha, Jangam Kavitha V, Rajendra K M
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, NIMHANS, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
Department of Psychiatric Social Work, NIMHANS, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
Indian J Psychiatry. 2025 Feb;67(2):245-251. doi: 10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_543_24. Epub 2025 Feb 19.
Schools provide opportunities to educate children on health and safety and encourage disclosures of difficult experiences. Policies and response mechanisms for disclosures are critical in the impact of preventive programs.
To understand school policies and practices for disclosures of child sexual abuse (CSA).
A school-based program on gender, sexuality, and personal safety was implemented in 162 schools between June 2022 and February 2024. The program addressed health, safety, boundaries, help-seeking, gender, sex, love and attraction, and decision-making. It encouraged children to discuss difficult experiences. A standard operating procedure was followed for responding to health or psychosocial issues, focusing on emotional support, avoiding retraumatization, and activating child protection mechanisms. School response practices were observed through extensive field notes maintained during the program implementation.
The program reached 21,234 students. There were 44 instances of CSA disclosure. Fifteen were high-risk disclosures (recent/proximity to alleged perpetrators/poor psychosocial support). A report was shared with the school/child protection system for further action. There were challenges noted in organizing appropriate responses to children's health and psychosocial needs at all levels. Schools lacked uniform policy and were unfamiliar with the state and national level provisions for child protection. Schoolteachers conveyed invalidating, disbelieving, and evasive attitudes toward children's disclosures, and there was no existing coordination between schools and the child protection system.
Despite national and state level child protection policies, ground realities of response to CSA are highly deficient. Implementation of sexuality education programs, planned in several national endeavors, would be contingent upon school readiness and intersectoral collaborations.
学校为教育儿童健康与安全知识以及鼓励他们披露困难经历提供了机会。披露政策及应对机制对于预防项目的影响至关重要。
了解学校关于儿童性虐待披露的政策与做法。
2022年6月至2024年2月期间，在162所学校实施了一项关于性别、性取向和个人安全的校本项目。该项目涉及健康、安全、界限、寻求帮助、性别、性、爱情与吸引力以及决策制定等内容。它鼓励儿童讨论困难经历。遵循标准操作程序来应对健康或心理社会问题，重点是提供情感支持、避免再次创伤以及启动儿童保护机制。通过在项目实施过程中所做的大量实地记录来观察学校的应对做法。
该项目覆盖了21234名学生。有44起儿童性虐待披露事件。其中15起为高风险披露事件（近期发生/与被指控的犯罪者接近/心理社会支持不足）。已向学校/儿童保护系统分享报告以便采取进一步行动。在各级组织对儿童健康和心理社会需求的适当应对方面存在一些挑战。学校缺乏统一政策，且不熟悉州和国家层面的儿童保护规定。学校教师对儿童的披露表达了无效、怀疑和回避的态度，并且学校与儿童保护系统之间不存在现有的协调机制。
尽管有国家和州层面的儿童保护政策，但在应对儿童性虐待方面的实际情况仍存在严重不足。在多项国家努力中计划实施的性教育项目，将取决于学校的准备情况和部门间合作。
