LAHORE – Child protection curriculum will be introduced in schools in Punjab, the provincial government decided on Sunday.
A 20-member committee was formed by the Chief Minister of Punjab Shehbaz Sharif on safeguarding children on January 13, after a public outcry broke out when the assaulted body of a seven-year-old child was found in a garbage dump in Kasur.
Minister for Law Rana Sanaullah is the convener of the committee with the minister for schools as the co-convener.
The committee — in its first session today — also proposed the recommendations to form a Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) database and make amendments to the child protection laws in order to curb child abuse in the province.
Recommendations of the committee will be submitted to the CM Punjab by January 16.
The Terms of Reference (ToR) of the committee include “to deliberate and recommend replication of AMBER Alert system in Punjab” and “propose SOP to immediately know, locate and recover missing children, and to make our society children-friendly.”
Moreover, the committee will also “intelligently use ICT to protect children in streets, parks, schools and in other public places”, “review existing laws and criminal investigation procedures apropos child abduction and child abuse”, and “propose revisions in school curriculum to educate children in dealing with strangers and self-protection.”
