City schools calm parents, issue advisory after child-lift rumours

Kolkata: Don’t panic, don’t pay heed to rumours but teach your children to stay away from strangers: these are part of the advisory list that several schools in Kolkata have been sending to parents to allay fears of child-lifting amid rumours circulating on social media. The schools have also been counselling students, especially those from the junior sections, about safety measures. St Lawrence High School and St Augustine’s Day School, Barrackpore, have issued notices, while South City International School has been holding sessions with children, teaching them how to act if a stranger offers them something or tries to harm them.

In the notice to parents, St Lawrence officials have advised guardians to tell their wards not to accept biscuits, cakes or snacks from strangers or anyone unknown and that they can share their tiffin only if the other friend/s are willing to. An official at the school told TOI that they took this step after a stranger was found distributing biscuits among children a few days ago. School principal Father Benny Thomas told TOI, “This is not a very serious incident, but we felt we should alert parents for the sake of children’s safety. Moreover, they have different food habits and restrictions that we wanted to remind them of.” At St Augustine’s Day School Shyamnagar, the security staff has been given body-cameras. “Our security staff has started using this device to be safe from their side as well as to keep a close watch on the children, especially during dispersal,” said principal Rodney Borneo. St Augustine’s Day School, Barrackpore, has issued safety guidelines. School principal Shweta Ray said, “We have sent certain safety guidelines to parents that they need to teach their children, like reporting any suspicious behaviour, teaching them to say a firm ‘no’ to someone they don’t know, getting away quickly from such people. The children should know their guardians’ full names and contact numbers. Such a list has been sent so that the parents can ensure their wards’ safety, instead of panicking about rumours.”At South City International, teachers have chosen ‘strangers’ as the topic of discussion for their interactive ‘quality circle time’ session with children aged between three and 11 years. Principal Satabdi Bhattacharjee said, “The children are being advised not to take anything from strangers. We always tell kids that during dispersal, if anyone unknown to them comes to pick them up, they should immediately tell the teacher present.”
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