Role of Mass Media Tools to Educate School Children about Child Sexual Abuse A Study of Students in Chandigarh

Abstract

The mass media is considered as the fourth pillar of democracy. Media can connect a large number of individuals in a short period of time. The mass media effectively delivers messages throughout society through its various tools such as newspapers, radio, magazines, television, cinema and new media. The content that is broadcast by the media has an impact on people of all ages. Children are seen as a country s future. It is necessary to provide a safe and healthy environment for children for their proper development. Child sexual abuse is one of the many issues that children face around the world, including child labor, malnutrition, child abuse, and child sexual abuse etc. Child sexual abuse is a criminal offence in which a child is sexually molested with or without the child s knowledge. India has the largest number of sexually abused children in the world. According to national and international research reports, a child less than 16 years is raped every 155th minute in India. One of the primary causes of the increasing incidents of CSA cases is a culture of silence and ignorance about the problem. The vast majority of people relate CSA solely with child rape and other types of child sexual abuses are mostly unreported due to unawareness. To minimize the number of occurrences, it is essential to raise public awareness about the problem. newlineSeveral experimental studies conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of video-assisted educational prevention programs in schools, concluded that audio visual awareness programs successfully educate children about the adverse effects of CSA and the importance of child safety for their proper development. The present study examines the role of mass media techniques in promoting awareness about child sexual abuse among Chandigarh school children. The Chandigarh city was selected for the study because the number of incidents of child sexual abuse reported under the POCSO Act increased in the city from 2016 to 2019. CSA cases are also increased in schools in recent years.