Sex education in schools can curb teen pregnancies: VAU

Panaji: The lack of

sex education

in schools has compromised the

safety and health

of children in the state. In the first five months of this year, nine teenage pregnancies have been reported. Every month, the state reports an average of one to two teenage pregnancies.
During the same period, 170 crimes against children, including kidnapping, were reported in the state.
These are only the cases that have come to the light. The actual number of teenage pregnancies may be much higher as they go unreported due to the stigma attached to it.
“Teen pregnancies are on the rise. Hence there is a need to work on

prevention

. This will help to prevent children and women from being victimised and facing acts of violence,” victim assistance unit (

VAU

) coordinator Emidio Pinho told TOI.

He said that there has been no reduction in cases of

violence against children

and women. “The child protection system in Goa is at its initial stage, while other states have moved way ahead in the effective implementation of Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) and the central legislations,” Pinho said.
He also said that various changes made or recommended are not helping the victims on the ground.
“Instead, they add to the trauma thereby causing hardships to the victims and their families. There is a need to retrospect and understand the dynamic of Goa rather than applying other models and policies with zero practical benefit for the victims in Goa,” Pinho said.

Over the past six years, about 70

child pregnancies

have been reported at police stations across the state, most of the have been registered as

rape cases

. In a few cases, the pregnancies were not noticed by the parents or schools till it was time for delivery.
“There is an urgent need to aggressively spread awareness in schools about the consequences of casual sex,” the VAU coordinator said. “Children should be cautioned about how they can be lured, coerced and then abused. Youths should be made aware of the emotional, physical and social consequences of their rash actions.”