To create awareness among the specially challenged girl children about the child sexual abuse, Sankara Eye hospital in association with Young Indians organised a workshop with a theme of ‘Empowering Girls for a Brighter Tomorrow’. The workshop included sessions on safe and unsafe touch, concept on private parts, preventing child sexual abuse and safety skills. The workshop was conducted by Ms. Ashwini N.V, Founder & Director of Muktha Foundation in the presence of Mr. Ravikumar C J, Nodal officer, District Disability Rehabilitation Centre and Dr. Kaushik Murali, Medical President, Quality & Education, Sankara Eye Hospital.

The objective of the workshop was to make the children aware of sexual abuse and how to deal with such situations. The 50 specially challenged children who attended the workshop were from Bangalore rural area was specially challenged.

The concept of consent was introduced among children, and the difference between a safe and unsafe touch. The children then yelled out NO, to train them to respond to an event of abuse. They were taught of the steps to take and go tell a trusted adult until they listened and responded. They learned how abuse could affect them, how to protect themselves from abuse and whom to approach if something happened to them. The children were encouraged to report and complain about the incident and the abuser without getting scared.

The workshop highlighted the fact that it was absolutely essential that girls raise their voice against any misconduct and get the perpetrators to justice as it will not only teach the perpetrators a lesson but also act as a deterrent against them repeating the offense.

“We’ve always had an emphasis on helping specially challenged children. We wanted to create awareness and educate children on sexual abuse which is a very important topic to be discussed. Through this interactive workshop, children learnt about personal safety, Sexual abuse and different types of touch and speak up against the injustice”, said Dr. Kaushik Murali, Medical President, Quality & Education, Sankara Eye Hospital.

About Sankara Eye Hospital:

Sankara Eye Hospital, Bengaluru an NABH accredited tertiary hospital is a unit of Sankara Eye Foundation. The hospital was established in 2008 with a vision to provide highest quality and value for money in eye care services. It is a centre of excellence for Cornea, Retinal diseases, Glaucoma, Paediatric Ophthalmology, Cataracts, Oculoplasty and Lasik. Sankara Eye Foundation has its presence across 7 states and total bed strength of 2200. Till date more than 1.8 million free vision restoration surgeries have been performed.