National Child Protection Alliance, a network with 45 members, successfully completed ‘Consultation Seminar on Child Protection in Education Act’ on 28 February 2020 in Kathmandu in collaboration with UNICEF and World Education. There were 50 participants. This event was organized to develop common understanding among Parliament members, Director General from Ministry of Education, Local government officials, Students Union, Child Right Activist and Civil Society organization to incorporate child protection agenda in Education Act.
Ms. Writu Bhatta Rai, Chairperson of National Child Protection Alliance, Nepal, chaired the program. She shared the child protection issues in the schools, such as bullying, abuse, corporal punishment. She also emphasized the progress made in the policy and mechanisms however the implementation level is low. The child protection issue should not be seen as problem only but have human right issues of children. There is need of system strengthening approach in child protection.
Honorable Laxmi Pariyar, Member of Parliament shared that there are number of policies on protecting children from violence however there is need of proper implementation and tracking of progress. She emphasized need of violence free school and community.
Honorable Bina Shrestha, Member of Parliament pointed out the discrimination between sons and daughters at home in terms of their education and socialization process. She emphasized the socialization process of a child for developing norms and values. Thus, parents and teachers are responsible to teach them good moral values and norms, so that they do not take violence as means. She also added the role of local government to make their schools free from violence and discrimination.
Mr. Tulashi Prasad Thapaliya, Director General of Center for Education and Human Resources Development emphasized developing environment in the schools and education system where children are free to share their complaints against violence. He also share the Ministry of Education have safety policy.
Mr. Gauri Pradhan, Former Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission stressed on the need of adopting systematic approach to child protection. He shared that there is need of comprehensive child protection policy in Nepal.
Mr. Tarak Dhital, Child Right Activist presented on ‘Legal Basis and Practical Improvement for child protection in school’. In his presentation, Mr. Dhital shared about the existing legal instruments and provisions related to child protection school. The also highlighted the challenges being faced while materializing those provisions. Further, he emphasized on the need to be committed for the implementation of those provisions, regular monitoring of the implementation status and take actions against the culprits for delivering the desired
Mr. Tilottam Paudel, Coordinator of National Coalition for Girls’ Right(NCGR) and National Child Friendly Local Governance Forum (NCFLG-FORUM) brought attention the child protection problem of children out of schools, living in hostel. He also stressed out the child protection issue of private school has not been tracked. Local government has responsibility to monitor and take action to minimize the risk and punish the culprits. We need to make sure that the private boarding school adequately takes the act into consideration. The lots of violence we see in schools are more in private schools then public schools so, this act has to be applied to both.
On behalf of all the civil society organizations (CSO), Mr. Krishna Chandra Acharya, Chairperson of the National Action and Coordinating Group Nepal focused on the importance of raising awareness level of people at grassroots level and enabling them to deal with child protection issues on their own from right perspective.
On behalf of the collaborating partners, Ms. Helen Sherpa, Country Director of World Education said, “It is a very important issue, as the previous educational act had different gaps and clarity in it. The new education act is going to be enforced for the next 10-20 years. Hence, we should make sure that the issues are addressed correctly. We need to make sure that there are no gaps between free and compulsory education and working age.” Ms. Sherpa advised that the authorities need to ensure private boarding schools taking act seriously. She added that there are more cases of violence in the private boarding schools.
