The rising number of reported cases of child abuse in the recent years has led to panic in the Pakistani society. According to a report by Sahil, an organisation working for child protection, 1,489 children were abused in the first half of 2020. The shockingly high number indicates that thousands of children and adolescents are unsafe. Due to the stigma around abuse and mental health, and victimhood, many cases still remain unreported. The psychological turmoil resulting from experiencing abuse at an early age is often brushed off, with many suffering and having no outlet to share their fears or break free from the social taboos.

As part of its Safar-i-Hifazat project, Nur Foundation and its technical research arm AmplifyChange, a research study was conducted to gauge the effectiveness of a life skills based education (LSBE) curriculum. Baseline and end-line surveys showed a marked difference in adolescents, that is 13-14-year-old government school children’s understanding of notions of health and well-being.

The concept behind LSBE is to empower children, promote critical thinking, teach them to cope with the stresses of daily life, openly express emotions, and realise individual agency. It promotes social cohesion and inclusivity by teaching about the significance of protecting human rights and helping children find their voice.

“It all started with the Zainab case,” says Maha Younis, research monitoring and evolution analyst at Nur foundation. Younis says the 2018 rape and murder of the six-year-old from Kasur necessitated pertinent discussion around LSBE to familiarise school children with concepts of bad touch and good touch.

At its core, the Pakistani society is quite conservative. Avoiding a discussion on ‘uncomfortable’ topics is common. These issues include personal hygiene, puberty-related bodily changes, menstruation, sex, abuse, domestic violence, divorce and mental health. The list is long. In a society where men have to ask for contraceptives at pharmacies in whispers, and women are forced to buy hygiene products wrapped in paper bags as if they were contraband - sexual violence against children is a deeply distressing discussion for most.

However, turning a blind eye and keeping mum does not put an end to abuse. As part of the intervention-based project, teachers from selected government schools of Lahore were trained, and LSBE was imparted to students over four months. In the baseline survey, data was collected from 1,125 respondents. Students were asked questions related to personal hygiene, puberty, self-esteem, decision-making, consent, divorce and sexual abuse, amongst others. The post-intervention end-line survey revealed a considerable shift in views held by the participants prior to the introduction of the LSBE curriculum. “Children were eager to discuss their experiences and express their thoughts once they realised they were in a safe space,” adds the research analyst.

“It all started with the Zainab case,” says Maha Younis, a research monitoring and evolution analyst at Nur foundation.

At the beginning of the intervention, children who believed that they should remain silent after experiencing a bad touch was 23 per cent. The number dropped to a mere four per cent by the time end-line survey data was collected. The number of girls who believed that they should shower during menstruation showed a dramatic increase from 10 to 77 per cent. The number of children who understood the meaning of self-esteem rose by 20 per cent. The number of boys who intend to grant the right of divorce in the marriage contract grew by 18 per cent, from twenty-nine at the time of the baseline survey.

The need for LSBE at the school level is emphasised by the fact that a startling 67 per cent of adolescents surveyed believed that experiencing emotions is not normal. A society of emotionally stunted individuals is the real fear-inducing anomaly that must be prevented from furthering and not the other way around.

“Multiple issues are plaguing our education system,” says Aamir Riaz, the public awareness general manager at FM 103 and a columnist. “Instead of working towards inclusivity and eradicating bias, we have propagated gender divide through our textbooks,” laments Riaz. With the introduction of a problematic single national curriculum policy, the education system has suffered a massive hit.

“Pick any book from the new curriculum, and you will notice it reeks of regression”, says the publisher. “Women are often shown in a domestic setting in pictures there in our textbooks.” It is not only the portrayal of the female in schoolbooks that Riaz finds troubling but also the concept of gender-based segregation in schools. He says single-gender schools do not allow for effective interaction between genders, essential for promulgating progressive ideas about identity and roles through interaction with the other.

LSBE can help mitigate the damage caused by divisive educational practices and teach children to value all individuals’ contributions regardless of gender to the development of society. “We are hopeful that this research will pave the way for policy development,” adds Younis. The researcher hopes that one day LSBE curriculum can become a regular feature of school learning. Younis says that the project stakeholders are working in tandem with the authorities concerned. She says full induction of LSBE could take a while as the Covid-19 pandemic has been an obstacle to an extensive, large-scale intervention.

Towards the end of the four-month programme, students expressed a need for an on-campus counsellor with whom they could share their concerns, feelings and thoughts, remembers the analyst. The survey’s findings suggest that LSBE is a crucial component missing from the local school curriculum. To eliminate abuse and protect children, there must be an effort to mainstream LSBE as it can provide them with the vocabulary to voice their concerns and become effective members of society.

The writer is a staff member