Sexual offence: Govt mulling scheme to spread awareness among girl students

New Delhi: The government is mulling a scheme aimed at creating awareness among girl students about various aspects of sexual offences.

The Women and Child Development Ministry is deliberating upon the scheme, called ‘Nirbheek’.

The initiative envisages imparting training to girl students in schools and colleges on cases of sexual offences through local police, and encouraging them to report such matters.

“As many teenagers are facing harassment, through this programme we want to sensitise girls and their families by telling them what they can do in such cases.

We want to encourage young girls to report such matters to police and involve their parents and the community as their participation is important in handling such sensitive issues,” a senior WCD official said.

The scheme will be created with the approval of the Home Ministry and it will be implemented using the Nirbhaya fund.

“A designated group of police officer including women officers will go and talk to girls in schools and colleges on the issue. They will tell them about various kinds of sexual offences taking place in the society and the options available to them,” he said.

The initiative is already in practice in the national capital where Delhi Police is engaging with girl students at various schools.

“We are interacting with all the states to take up the scheme. They have been asked to send proposals,” the official said. Knowledge in self-defence techniques will be imparted to girl students from classes six to nine under it.