Holistic Education (Protecting the Innocent)‏

According to a report issued by a child rights’ a monitoring of crimes reported in 27 national newspapers indicated that at least 1218 children were sexually assaulted
in the first nine months of that year. 1826 cases of sexual abuse of children were reported in 2003. 679 cases were reported in 2002. Because sexual abuse, rape, sodomy or incest (whether of minors or adults) are all taboo subjects in Pakistani society, experts believe the cases reported represent only the tip of the iceberg.The victims were abused in acquaintances homes, hotels, mosques, the workplace, churches, streets, fields and their own homes.Despite the disturbing statistics, only a handful or organizations or initiatives have chosen to focus on the problem of child abuse in Pakistan.One of the biggest peculiarities of life in our country is the insistence that, despite all evidence to the contrary, man is simply a head on a stick. Not only do we neglect the mind, we also pretend not to exist from the neck down. The human body, in all its indecipherable complexity, with all its myriad needs, remains a mystery to us for most of our lives. We don’t talk about it when we need to, and hence obsess about it when we shouldn’t.This attitude is damaging because it facilitates child abuse. Since no clear limits, no definitions of inappropriate contact or behavior are shared with children when they are at their most vulnerable, victims of child abuse tend to suffer in silence. Not only because they might not realize what is happening to them is wrong, but also because they don’t know who to talk to about it with even if they do want to talk. Open, honest communication with their offspring is something that Pakistani parents tend to be singularly bad at. They feel embarrassed, inadequate and seem to believe that talking with their children about traditionally taboo subjects will do more harm than good. Questions are discouraged. While the manifestation of sexual frustration is evident everywhere, a culture of silence about all things to do with the human body is fostered in children from an early age. Adult sexual predators in a culture like ours therefore find an ideal feeding ground. Because of the very silence they believe will nurture their children’s innocence, families place their children at greater risk even as they seek to protect them. Keeping this in mind, education can play a vital role in combating child abuse.In the absence of a parent child dialogue, teachers can talk to children about culturally sensitive subjects. In co-educational schools, this can be done in simple (segregated) sessions when children are old enough to grasp concepts like personal space. They can be given simple guidelines about how to respect an adult while making sure the adult is not disrespecting them. They can be taught how to react if someone is making them feel uncomfortable or making them do things they don’t want to do. There are forms of abuse other than rape that can have equally destructive impact on a child’s psyche, they can be taught to recognize them. They can be taught to ‘differentiate between a good secret and a bad secret’. And there are a variety of culturally non-threatening ways to do this. Information about physical boundaries can be imparted to children in the form of stories, where delicate issues are framed through characters and carefully phrased questions. Stories written specially for this purpose can subtly touch upon a variety of culture specific themes adults are generally reluctant to talk about with children. For example, children need to be made aware that the bonds of blood, some tenuous notion of kinship or fear of shaming their parents do not supersede their rights. In the majority of instances of child abuse, the abuse is perpetrated by relatives and acquaintances rather than by strangers. More than half of the victims tend to age 12 or younger. In other words, before they learn to set their own limits.In a country where there are probably ten Javed Iqbals for every one that comes forward, where the commodification of the girl child is an accepted reality, where abusing young boys is sometimes seen as a necessary rite of passage, it is imperative that some degree of self-awareness be inculcated in children.Organizations like Sahil, an NGO based in Islamabad, have already developed teaching training modules. Individuals have also made efforts to set up model schools or make PSD (Personal and Social Development) a part of their private schools curriculum. There is a variety of information and teachers’ resources available on the Internet to help individuals determined to do what they can on a personal level. But there needs to be a concerted, nationwide effort to educate the maximum number of teachers and caregivers in the identification, prevention and intervention aspects of child abuse.This effort should include:1) Understanding the types of child abuse. Abuse can be categorized under neglect (a failure on the part of the parents or caregivers to cater to the basic emotional and physical needs of the child like food, shelter and safety), emotional (consistently belittling, humiliating or punishing a child and destroying their self esteem), physical (actual bodily harm to a child, intended or unintended as a result of overenthusiastic corporal punishment) or sexual (taking advantage of a child’s age, lack of maturity or trust and involving them in a sexual act)2) Recognizing the symptoms of abuse and maintaining a patient, caring approach. Different problems manifest themselves in different ways. Without proper training or education, it is impossible (and inappropriate) for a teacher to make judgments about what is causing a pupil to behave a certain way. For example a sudden decline in school performance can be caused by neglect, while the behavioral extremes of apathy or aggressiveness that teachers note in certain pupils and tend to dismiss as laziness or ‘being difficult’ can be caused by emotional or physical abuse.3) Figuring out what to do if a teacher suspects there is something wrong. Or rather, who to approach and consult with. This is often the most difficult part in a nation as culturally resistant as ours is to open admission of the existence of sexuality. Parents obviously need to be involved, as well as a qualified, objective third party like a child psychologist or licensed counselor. While private schools can often afford to have such a person as a member of in house staff, government schools could benefit from some sort of pool system.This effort should be extended to all the operational educational apparatus in the country, whether private, public or religious. Assuming the concerned parties all have the best interests of the child at heart, and considering that material used in lessons for both teachers and children will be devised keeping societal norms and courtesies in mind, there should be no objections.A people or a nation can be accurately measured by the condition of its weakest and most vulnerable. As Pakistan trumpets its recent conversion to the cause of enlightened moderation, lets see whether our newly discovered progressive zeal translates into any kind of meaningful effort to safeguard the rights of our children.