Tamil Nadu BJP unit president K. Annamalai on Sunday called for initiatives to prevent sexual harassment of children.

In a series of tweets, he called for the police to activate the beat system and press women officers into service in school areas and interact frequently with children and school authorities. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other social organisations should reach out to schools and start educating students about good touch and bad touch so that seniors and relatives do not exploit them. Teachers also needed to talk to students about this, Mr. Annamalai said. School authorities had the important responsibility of identifying signs of disturbance in a child’s mind, watch for abnormal behaviour and immediately alert the parents and police authorities if anything is found to be amiss.

“The online teaching system has blurred the line between privacy and classroom setting. It is very sad to see some of the sexual assault cases where teachers are the primary accused. The fear of anonymity and the power factor of being a teacher needs to be curbed,” Mr. Annamalai said.

‘A societal problem’

TNCC president K. S. Alagiri said these sexual assaults were a societal problem and everyone had to pay attention to it. He said parents must teach their children about how people with wrong intentions could approach them and how they were likely to behave. “They should provide counselling to children to empower them. The government also needs to bring in stringent punishment for such cases,” Mr. Alagiri said.

(Those in distress or having suicidal tendencies could seek help and counselling by calling the State’s helpline 104 or Chennai-based Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-2460050)