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Children in India
INTRODUCTION
Violence is a daily reality for millions of children around the world, affecting girls and boys of all ages, all social contexts, and all nationalities. In every part of their lives their homes and families, schools, institutions, workplaces and communities children may be beaten, sexually assaulted, tortured, and even killed. The perpetrators of this violence are often the very individuals who are responsible for protecting children their parents, guardians, teachers, employers, the police and security forces. Violence is a global epidemic of scandalous proportions, violating every childs right to a safe and healthy environment.
In work settings
Across all regions, violence physical, sexual and psychological affects many millions children who are working, both legally and illegally. It may be used to coerce children to work or punish or control them in the workplace. Most workplace violence is inflicted by employers, although those who inflict violence may also include co-workers, foremen, customers, police, criminal gangs and intermediaries. Many girls work in domestic labour, which is often unregulated. They report maltreatment such as physical punishment, humiliation and sexual harassment. The exploitation of children in prostitution or child pornography is not only a form of violence in itself, it also puts the exploited children at risk of physical and psychological violence, as well as neglect.
In the community
The community is a source of protection and solidarity for children but it can also be a site of violence including peer violence, violence related to guns and other weapons, gang and police violence, physical and sexual violence, and trafficking. Violence may also be associated with the mass media and new information and communication technologies. Community violence often affects marginalized groups of children, such as street children. The mass media sometimes portray violence as normal or glorify it. Cyber-bullying through the Internet or mobile phones has been documented in recent times.
According to Plan's findings, corporal punishment is widespread in Indian schools, despite being illegal. More than 65% children, its report claimed, said they were beaten. A majority of such victims are in state schools. The study also discovered that caste and gender discrimination was the major cause of violence against children. It said many students abandoned their studies because of such humiliation, which included hitting with hands or sticks, making them stand in various positions for long periods and tying them to chairs. More boys (54%) than girls (45%) were subjected to corporal punishment. Plan blamed "societal acceptance of violence as a form of discipline" for it and pointed to a lack of awareness about children's rights in India. In the schools surveyed, there were
at least five beatings of students a day. Interestingly, many among the students interviewed believed corporal punishment was sometimes necessary. Students in Assam, Mizoram and UP reported highest rates of corporal punishment, while Rajasthan and Goa the lowest. Plan's conclusions are based on Overseas Development Institute, a UK thinktank, research. The institute's sources included government of India data on child abuse in the country.
ON SCHOOL VIOLENCE
Widespread violence in India's schools is hampering the futures of millions of children and costing the country billions of pounds in lost social benefits, says Plan International in a report released this week. Despite corporal punishment being outlawed in schools throughout India,
about 65 percent of children surveyed by the the Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2007 reported having been beaten at school, with some choosing to abandon their education altogether out of fear of their teachers.
Up to 5 percent of students in India who drop out of education do so as a result of corporal punishment, which costs India up to 4.7 billion a ye ar in productivity and tax revenues lost because of children not finis hing school, according to Plan. A 2006 study by Saath Charitable Trust and Plan found that corporal punishment is w idely used and accepted by parents and teachers as a le gitimate form of punishing children. A set of stringent guidelines against corporal punishment should be locked down and disseminated around the country off the back of the Ministry of Human Resource Development recently announcing plans for specific instructions to be given to schools, Plan said. Of 547 million people under 20 in India, only 11 percent will become graduates, according to the Ministry of Human Resource Development. If nothing is done about under-performance and high drop-out rates in India, the nation will have little chance of achieving the Millennium Development
assisting high-risk adolescents to complete schooling; reducing alcohol availability through the enactment and enforcement of liquor licensing laws, taxation and pricing;
Improving the efficiency of pre-hospital and emergency medical care will reduce the risk of death, the time for recovery and the level of long-term impairment due to violence. All violence against children and especially child maltreatment occurring in the first decade of life is both a problem in itself and a major risk factor for other forms of violence and health problems through a person's life. For instance, a recent WHO study estimated that the lifetime impact of child sexual abuse accounts for approximately 6% of cases of depression, 6% of alcohol and drug abuse/dependence, 8% of suicide attempts, 10% of panic disorders and 27% of post traumatic stress disorders. Other studies have also linked child physical abuse, sexual abuse and other childhood adversities to excessive smoking, eating disorders, and high-risk sexual behaviour, which in turn are associated with some of the leading causes of death including cancers and cardiovascular disorders.