Child protection issues in our textbooks

The World Vision, an NGO working in Bangladesh since 1971 with focus on child care, concern and protection along with its other areas of intervention, arranged a seminar at BRAC Centre on 5 September, 2015. At the event a researcher, Umme Mushtari Tithi, assistant professor at Institute of Education and Research (IER), Dhaka University, presented a paper titled "Exploring the status and importance of child protection issues in the curriculum and textbooks from 6th to 12 grades in Bangladesh". National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) chairman, two members, members of Human Rights Commission, educationists, researchers and individuals working for establishing child rights in Bangladesh attended the seminar. The initiative was timely, and deserved appreciation from the circles concerned. World Vision, Bangladesh, plays a supportive role in reducing issues like child marriage, child labour, child trafficking, internal and cross-border, corporal punishment and also in promoting birth registration and participation through strengthening community child protection system.
The general objective of the study was to explore the current status of the child protection issues incorporated in the textbooks. Another was to find out the underlying reasons for incorporating child protection issues in the curricula and textbooks. The specific objectives emerge as exploring the current status of incorporating child protection issues in the curricula and textbooks, identifying the child protection issues that have been incorporated already in the curricula and textbooks, and identifying the lack of knowledge and practice of child protection among students, teachers, school management committees and guardians. Children are naturally curious and are motivated to making sense of the world around them. A child's relationships and experiences during his or her early years greatly influence how their brain grows, and build knowledge for their future. Children learn the best through their everyday experiences with the people they love and trust, and when the learning is coupled with fun. To what extent our curricula, textbooks, the school environment and teacher-student relationship reflect these issues? In this perspective, the research presentation has actually been long overdue.
The country's National Education Policy 2010 includes the issue concerning the safety of children of pre-primary education which is closely related to the issue of child protection. Teaching should be conducted in a pleasant environment characterised by love and care in appreciation of children's spontaneous vigour, spirit and their natural inquisitive faculties and curiosity. The safety of the child will have to be ensured to resist any possible physical or mental torture on them.  Actually, things are not as satisfactory in the practical field as the policy explains.
Some important issues came to light with the presentation and plenary discussion. According to Shishu Adhikar Forum, the rate of children being killed in Bangladesh increased by 61 per cent in 2014 compared to the previous years. Till July 2015, at least 191 children were killed, claims Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BSAF). The violation of child rights is a common matter in Bangladesh. The children have basic rights to education, health and protection, but most of our children are deprived of these rights. (Mohajan, 2014: Journal of Social Welfare and Human Rights p207). The prevalence of physical assault is higher among young children. Raising public awareness against child abuse and promoting preventive measures should be adopted to reduce child abuse in Bangladesh. (Chowdhury & Islam, 2013, Bangladesh Research Publication Journal p215).  The child's best interest is reflected in the class six textbooks. The mention of the right to expression is very little. The extent of special support and care for children in the Bengali book is less than one per cent, but there are none in the English and some other books. In the social science book it is 2.5 per cent. The right to education is somehow dealt with in Bengali, religion, social science and English textbooks. Right to protection from all forms of abduction registers .8 per cent in the textbooks. The mention of the right to protection from any activity that could harm children is found to be little. Cruel sentence, imprisonment and right to freedom also appear very insignificantly in the textbooks.
The National Child Policy 2011 reflects child protection in its Article No 6.7 where mentions are clearly made about the importance of ensuring child security and safety against all forms of exploitation, violence, mental, physical and sexual abuses. It also highlights the issue of effective public awareness to stop abuse and violence against children. According to Article 7.4, adolescents have also the right to be protected from all sorts of violence, early marriage, trafficking and forced commercial sex. The Bangladesh Child Protection Programme is working in this field with two critical objectives: reducing the potential that children will be trafficked for sex or labour, and improving systems that protect children and save the survivors.
All the interviewees of the research opine that the mass media can play a significant role in child protection. Though child protection issues have been incorporated into curricula and textbooks to some extent, the textbooks are more knowledge-dominated than focused on attitudes and skills. Majority of teachers and guardians opine that there lies a wide gap between their knowledge and practice regarding the issue. Child protection issues should be incorporated in teacher training programmes, and effective monitoring system should be developed to ensure the practice. The question is who will do that. Teachers give little importance to this issue as our whole assessment system has turned into a grade-oriented and result-driven one. Neither the teachers nor the students have any scope to practise the issue in their practical life. So, questions setters should be aware of the facts and direction should be given to them accordingly from the education boards.
Arranging co-curricular activities can also play a role but the co-curricular activities today get hardly any importance due to social perception that obtaining good grades in the examinations ensures better future of the learners. One expert comments that child protection issues should be addressed indirectly in the textbooks to inform the students. He added that direct inclusion of these issues might leave negative impact on their attitude and behaviour. Protection issues may be incorporated in textbooks through rhymes, poems, stories and games. But a NCTB member opines that incorporating these issues in pure literature will lighten the original taste of literature. This opinion also has merit. The member has given several examples from Nazrul and Tagore as to how their creations encourage the students and teachers to pursue value education and moral education which ultimately ensure child protection.  The researcher recommends NCTB to develop a plan of action for identifying the contents that should be included together with scope, length and methodology. Contents regarding child protection issues should be developed by content specialists rather than subject-experts. The protection issues should be incorporated symmetrically in both textbooks and curricula. But the NCTB officials explained their critical situation in incorporating different issues in textbooks. They have to face demands from various corners and groups such as environmentalists, human rights groups, gender groups, the third sex group and also political quarters. It becomes difficult to maintain a harmonious representation of the necessary issues in textbooks.  Finally, the High Court order to lessen the burden of books of students one tenth of their weight must be followed by the NCTB with due respect. In fact, child rights protection is a vital national issue.

 The writer works in BRAC Education Programme as a specialist and writes regularly on various national and international issues.
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