City teachers benefit from Child Abuse Awareness Session

DPI, Guyana, Tuesday, September 26, 2017

The Child Care and Protection Agency (CC&PA), today, held an awareness session for teachers in the North Georgetown District. This event is part of Child Protection Week activities, under the theme ‘Partnering with families and communities for positive outcomes for children’.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Gavin Robertson, Senior Probation and Social Sevices Officer explained that CC&PA is aware of the critical role teachers play in the detection and prevention of child abuse, hence the need for such an awareness session.

“We see teachers as the front-runners in observing the abuse of children because children spend five hours of their life per day within the school system, and there is a whole proportion of teachers who can observe when children are in school and are possibly being abused”, Robertson said.

Robertson emphasised that “child abuse is everybody’s business!” He observed that it is an unfortunate reality in society today and called on all stakeholders to collaborate and assiduously fight the scourge of child abuse. “It should not hurt to be a child, the child is supposed to be in loving caring environments.”

Presentations were made by Probation and Social Sevices officers from the Childcare and Protection Agency, focusing on the types of abuse, ways to detect whether a child is being abused and methods to deal with the issue.

Child Protection Week (CPW) is observed annually to increase awareness and understanding of the importance of primary prevention in reducing child abuse and neglect in our society.

CPW is observed in over 120 countries around the world, but at different times of the year under various themes. It was first observed in Guyana in 2004.

 

By: Synieka Thorne