Cops adopt four govt schools, lend an ear to students' woes

BENGALURU: For a group of four girls from Yelahanka, travelling to school was a nightmare, thanks to local boys who would hang around the college and harass them. Though police were alerted, the boys never missed an opportunity to taunt them.

For a 15-year-old girl from the city, the threat was not elsewhere but inside her home. Her 17-year-old brother used to beat her, claiming his friends saw her talking or travelling with boys.

These are among the many complaints that Parihar Makkala Sahayavani received after Bengaluru police initiated a programme to counsel government schoolchildren. The Sahayavani has adopted four schools. Every Wednesday , two counsellors visit these schools and hold awareness programmes on child rights, child abuse and safety, counselling sessions for high school students.

"Unlike private schools which hire counsellors to guide students, government schools do not have such facilities. Now, we get numerous calls seeking help. Through this programme, we want to ensure students know their rights, are able to properly identify someone mistreating or exploiting them, are able to prevent such situations or at least know whose help to seek," said Rani Shetty , director, Vanita Sahayavani.

Sessions on menstrual hygiene for girls and pre-marital counselling will also be included, she added. Calls for help: In three years, the number of calls to the helpline increased manifold. Since December 2007, the helpline received 4,992 calls. Between April 2013 and March 2014, it got 250 calls. This went up to 641 the next year (April 2014March 2015). Between April 2015 and March 2016, 282 intervention calls were received, of which 42 were about child marriage cases. "Awareness programmes are held for both boys and girls. Apart from personal safety, we also stress the need for education, considering that students are at a stage where they have to make a choice between higher studies, work or marriage. We hope more students prefer higher education, especially over marriage," said Rakshitha C, a counsellor.