Bilawal asks Sindh govt, civil society to draw up joint plans

Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has stressed the need for urgent steps to save the children from abuse and other crimes and urged the civil society and the Sindh government to work out joint plans for creating a comfortable and secure environment for our children to grow.

He was talking on Saturday to a delegation of Aahang, an NGO engaged with communities to build awareness about rights and critical issues like child abuse, gender-based violence and early marriages.

Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, Senator Sherry Rehman, Special Assistant to Chief Minister for Human Rights Rehana Leghari, Shamim Wasi, Shehzad Roy and Nazo Pirzada were present in the meeting.

The meeting discussed the update on the process taken by Aahung for the integration of life skills-based education (LSBE) into the secondary school curriculum in Sindh.

The PPP chairman and the chief minister were requested to take steps for ensuring that the subsequent process of teachers’ training and reprinting of textbooks with LSBE content took place in the province.

According to Aahung, it has already developed and tested content for younger children on body protection and sexual abuse prevention in public and private schools.

The PPP chairman and the CM agreed that this content now needed to be made a part of the primary school curriculum in Sindh for classes 3, 4 and 5.

He agreed in principle that the chief minister may head a joint committee of the provincial government and the civil society to oversee the process of the integration of the content into the primary school curriculum.

Aahung will provide technical assistance as they already have the content and methodology ready. The training of a special police task force, judges and medico-legal officers on child abuse prevention will also take place.

Bilawal said that children would be protected whether in schools, madrasas, streets or playgrounds, and appreciated the Sindh government for working together with civil society organisations for the cause.

He said his party had already brought in legislation for child protection from the Sindh Assembly, including the passage of the bill for the Sindh Child Protection Authority.