HYDERABAD: The government on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Telangana Legal Services Authority to introduce legal awareness and child protection systems across 5,711 high schools in the state.
The agreement was signed between Dr E. Naveen Nicolas, director of school education, and Ch. Panchakshari, member secretary of the Authority, in the presence of Justice P. Sam Koshy of the High Court, who is executive director of the authority.
Officials said the programme would cover 194 model, 4,704 government and zilla parishad schools, 495 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas, 35 institutions run by the Telangana Gurukul Residential Educational Institutions Society, 33 urban residential schools and 250 aided schools.
The initiative introduces legal literacy sessions for students and teachers, with lessons on fundamental rights, duties and constitutional values. Schools will run awareness drives on child rights and laws related to child labour, child marriage and abuse. Legal literacy and child rights clubs will be set up, and one teacher in each school will serve as a child protection officer.
The programme also provides for legal aid, counselling and support services for students and their families. It includes identifying children who have dropped out of school and counselling them to return.
Officials said it seeks to “empower students with knowledge of their rights and responsibilities from an early age” and to “promote constitutional values and student safety through the education system.” Authorities will coordinate activities at the state and district levels and review progress periodically.
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