Hyderabad: Referring to the recent incident, in which, a 15-year-old student stabbed his teacher to death in Chennai, Supreme Court Judge Altamas Kabir on Sunday called for changes in the existing education policies.
"What caused him (student) to resort to this act? There is tremendous amount of pressure on children and time has come to make changes in existing education policies," Justice Kabir, who is also Chairman of National Legal Services Authority said.
He was speaking at a workshop on `Roles and Responsibilities of Multi-Disciplinary Stakeholders in Protecting Children`, where he further said that though there
were several schemes and laws to protect the children, a sense of caring towards them is required.
"About 42 percent of citizens of the country are
children and out of this, 75 percent children are deprived of
basic facilities and normal childhood. Problems of children
should be addressed through combined efforts by various
stakeholders, who should also show sensitivity while dealing
with matters related to children," he said.
Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court Madan B
Lokur said, juveniles must be rehabilitated properly and
society should change its attitude towards such children, when
they are re-integrated into society, adding coordination and
collective efforts amongst administration officials, police
and NGOs was important for addressing juvenile welfare in a
better way.
AP Minister for Women and Child Development V Sunitha
Laxma Reddy said, it was the fundamental responsibility of all
to ensure that every child is protected, nurtured, bereft of
any threat and is brought up to be a responsible citizen.
Chief Secretary Pankaj Dwivedi said, children were
vulnerable to exploitation, abuse and violence besides
trafficking. "The AP government has taken pro-active steps for
child welfare and to protect children from trafficking," he
said.
PTI
