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child

Internet is hailing this Syrian videographer who saved a child instead of clicking pictures

by Loknath Das April 5, 2024

written by Loknath Das

Syria photographer

You are a photographer in the middle of a suicide bombing in Syria and you see a bleeding child. Would you wait and click an award-worthy picture, or help the boy? Abd Alkader Habak chose to rescue the child, breaking down at the end of the ordeal, and internet is hailing him as a hero.

The Aleppo-based activist-videographer was caught in the middle of a massive suicide attack on a convoy of buses evacuating Syrians from a rebel-h

“I was just a few metres away when suddenly there was a massive explosion. My camera was thrown to the ground and I was thrown close by due to air pressure,” Habak said of the incident.

He searched for his camera and found it on the ground, where a child was also lying injured.

“He was bleeding. So I ran towards him. I looked at him and he was moving his hands. I looked at his face and I could see he was breathing.

“This child was firmly holding my hand and looking at me,” he said.

Still camera in his hand, Habak picked up the boy, and ran towards an ambulance, which took him to a hospital inside the rebel-held area.

Habak, whose pictures carrying the child and later breaking down have gone viral on social media, described the scene as horrible, “especially seeing children wailing and dying in front of you.”

“So I decided along with my colleagues that we’d put our cameras aside and start rescuing injured people ,” Habak told CNN.

Other photographers present in the area captured Habak’s compassionate act, and the pictures have been shared thousands of times on social media.

“What I and my colleagues have done today is what inspires our humanity to those who were partners in killing the children of Khan Sheikhan,” Habak tweeted, referring to the recent gas attack by Syrian regime.

[Source:-hindustantimes]

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Education

Exclusive: Refusing to touch pupils is a form of child abuse, psychologists say

by Rajdeep April 5, 2024

written by Rajdeep

physical contact, touch, child abuse, psychologists, british psychological society, wellbeing

Teachers who avoid physical contact with pupils could be causing them harm, according to members of the British Psychological Society

Refusing to touch pupils during day-to-day classroom interactions is a form of child abuse, psychologists have said.

Members of the British Psychological Society (BPS) have said that teachers who do not touch children when they are happy, upset or worried could cause harm, hampering pupils’ development.

“What’s missing is a recognition of how important touch is,” said child psychologist Sean Cameron. “And that withholding touch is, in itself, a form of psychological abuse.”

The psychologists said that they wanted schools to change their attitudes towards physical contact with students. In particular, they have called for schools to explain to parents that touch is not only necessary, but an integral part of the teacher-pupil relationship.

The demonisation of touch

Touch plays a vital role in children’s brain development, according to Professor Francis McGlone, head of affective neuroscience at Liverpool John Moores University.

“Touch isn’t just good – it’s absolutely essential,” he said. “Denying it is like denying a child oxygen. I get very exercised about the demonisation of touch. It’s cruel, in my mind. It’s another form of abuse.

“The scientific evidence is incontrovertible. I’m not just talking psychononsense; I’m talking about proper, evidenced neuroscience.”

Physical contact between teachers and pupils is not currently illegal. Government guidelines state that there are occasions “when physical contact…with a pupil is proper and necessary”

In practice, however, many schools, either explicitly or implicitly, discourage teachers from touching pupils.

Tool for controlling teachers

Last week, the BPS held a conference on the use of physical contact in schools and children’s services. Mr Cameron led the discussion.

He said that many heads and teachers saw touching a child as an unjustifiable risk, citing the case of a secondary teacher who put his hand on a boy’s shoulder to calm him down. The boy responded with: “Take your hands off me, you paedo.”

“By discouraging touch, you’re depriving a young person of a very humane reaction,” Mr Cameron said. “But you’re also setting up a situation where a young person can use this as a tool to put down or control a teacher. It’s a double whammy, really.”

Mary Bousted, general secretary of the ATL teaching union, said her union acknowledged that a humane relationship with pupils involved occasional physical contact. But she added that she would always advise teachers to be cautious.

“Don’t put yourself in a dangerous position,” she said. “Don’t put yourself in a situation where a child can accuse you of inappropriate contact.

“Of course, children must be protected. But teachers also have a right not to have their career ruined by false accusations.”

[Source:- tes]

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Internet

Unicef Releases Report on Child Online Protection in India

by Rajdeep April 4, 2024

written by Rajdeep

Unicef Releases Report on Child Online Protection in India

Unicef Thursday released a report on ‘Child Online Protection in India’, which maps the existing laws on safeguarding children from online exploitation, flags the lacunae in them and puts forward recommendations to ensure cyber safety.

According to the report, the surge in mobile and Internet use in India has brought 400 million people online. It adds that according to a survey conducted by Internet and Mobile Association of India, schoolgoing children account for seven per cent of Internet users in the country.

As a result of “deep proliferation” of Internet, offline forms of crime and violence against children are finding new platforms in the online world, it says.

“India is leading in Internet Communications Technology (ICT). If you look at the annual growth of ICT in India, it is phenomenal. The question now is, how are we going to be able to tackle this exponential growth in ICT so that it can be conducive and works as an enabler of children’s education and empowerment and also, protects them from violence and abuse, which are on the increase in India and internationally.

“We need more regulations and we also need all the stakeholders and duty-bearers such as parents and teachers to contribute to this. There is also a need to engage with the private sector to invent some of the protections,” Unicef Representative to India Louis-Georges Arsenault told PTI.

Cyberbullying, cyberstalking, grooming, webcam sexual abuse, pornography are just some of the several forms of sexual abuse through Internet.

The Unicef report also talks about how the precise number of child victims of online sexual exploitation in India or across the world is “unknown” even as abusive content is on the rise.

“According to International Association of Internet Hotlines, the number of webpages containing child sexual abuse material, increased by 147 percent from 2012 to 2014, with children up to 10 years of age portrayed in 80 percent of them,” the report states.

“We, at National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), are committed to take on the issue of online child sex abuse seriously. The way our children are being targeted through the Internet is very serious and a lot of them innocently get involved in it.

“My hunch is that a lot of these children, who are victims of online abuse, could also become juvenile offenders themselves,” NCPCR Chairperson Stuti Kacker told the gathering.

Head of Programme, ECPAT International Marie-Laure Lemineur emphasised on the need for “leadership and political will” to address the issue. She pointed out that even those children without access to Internet or mobile phones can fall prey to online abuse if they come in contact with the offenders offline.

Lemineur also spoke about “tolerance” that certain societies have towards online abuse as there is no actual physical contact and therefore, there is a need to engage with the duty-bearers such as the parents.

The report concludes with recommending several steps that can be taken to protect the children from online abuse. These include improving the laws and policies, reporting and removing offensive material, probing and prosecuting offenders, data-gathering and spreading digital literacy.

[Source:- gadgets. ndtv]

April 4, 2024 0 comment

Education

Private school fees soar to £160,000 per child, research finds

by Rajdeep April 4, 2024

written by Rajdeep

Parents face a bill of almost £160,000 to have their children privately educated amid the soaring cost of fees in recent years.

The average cost of a private school education for a day pupil who started reception in 2003 and left after sixth form in 2016 is £156,653, according to research by Lloyds Bank Private Banking.

Annual fees have almost doubled in that time, with the average cost of sending a child to private school for a year rocketing from £7,308 in 2003 to £13,341 today, a rise of 83 per cent.

In London parents have seen fees rise by 25 per cent in the last five years alone.

But costs have risen far more than average earnings, putting an enormous strain on families who want to choose private education for their children.

School fees rocketed by an average of 21 per cent over the last five years, up from £10,983 in 2011 – an increase that is 8 per cent above inflation.

The steep hike means that the £13,341 school fee accounts for almost 40 per cent of the average full time earnings of £34,545, a marked change from in 2003 when fees amounted for 28 per cent of earnings.

Despite the increasing financial burden on families, pupil numbers at private schools remain largely unchanged over the last five years.

Those going to senior school – between the ages of 11 and 16 – have fallen by 3 per cent, but numbers going to private sixth forms have grown by 10 per cent, and those at junior schools have gone up by 6 per cent.

Sarah Deaves, private banking director at Lloyds Bank, said: “All parents want the best for their children and a good education is no exception.

“A place at a private school is a huge financial commitment, almost an eye-watering £157,000 for just one child, from reception to finishing the sixth form as a day pupil.

“With average annual fees at £13,341 per child and the compulsory school leaving age now 18 years, many families may well feel some strain.

“It has, therefore, become increasingly important that parents, and sometimes grandparents, plan their finances as early as possible if they want a private school education for their children.”

The research, based on data from the Independent Schools Council and the Office for National Statistics, showed that private schooling in London was the most expensive in Britain, costing £179,145 to educate children from the age of five until they are 18.

Parents in the North paid the least, at £126,609 for 13 years of fees.

In London, school fees have almost doubled since 2003, rising 97% from £8,016 to £15,828 today, compared to the lowest increase over the same period in the West Midlands, a rise of 66 per cent from £6,984 to £11,580.

But there is help for parents, with around 160,000 children getting assistance for their fees – almost a third of all pupils at fee-paying schools, not just day pupils – that is worth more than £850 million a year.

The vast majority of this assistance, 85 per cent, comes from schools themselves.

[Source:- independent]

April 4, 2024 0 comment

Education

‘Your child is at risk’: Will Carrigan’s parents say education is key to suicide prevention

by Loknath Das September 18, 2017

written by Loknath Das

Will Carrigan with his nephew Eddie.

Rugby league is a big deal in the Upper Hunter in regional New South Wales. But on a recent weekend, fierce competitors put rivalry aside and came together for a common cause.

The event was the Where There’s A Will round, named in honour of the former front rower for the Scone Thoroughbreds, Will Carrigan, who took his own life on Christmas Day 2015.

Will’s parents, Pauline and Hilton Carrigan, do not want anyone to go through what they have endured.

They have turned their grief into action and are campaigning to save lives.

“Someone said to me, ‘What would have saved Will?'” Mrs Carrigan said.

Her answer: “Education.”

PHOTO: Rugby League players taking part in the Where There’s A Will round. (ABC News: Jerry Rickard)

‘Don’t be us’

Will, 24, was a fun-loving larrikin, his father said.

If you or anyone you know needs help:

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“Just an ordinary country boy that did his work, loved his sport and loved all his mates,” Mr Carrigan said.

“Took his own life. We never saw it coming.”

The couple said they could now see their son was struggling.

“How does a boy who has everything explain to someone that they’re not well, and it’s not what they want, or it’s not how they saw it going?” Mrs Carrigan said.

PHOTO: Will Carrigan’s parents, Pauline and Hilton. (ABC News: Simon Beardsell)

After their son’s death, the Carrigans set out to learn more about youth suicide and depression.

“If I can say one thing, don’t be us,” Mrs Carrigan said.

“There’s a certain amount of guilt that came when I found out the statistics and I realised our children had been at risk for an awfully long time and we didn’t know.

“So we are doing you a favour by telling you your child is at risk.

“Don’t assume there is a typical type that commit suicide. They’re just normal, everyday children.”

Hopes program will go national

Hilton and Pauline Carrigan stand with rugby players

PHOTO: Hilton and Pauline Carrigan with some of Will’s former teammates. (ABC News: Jerry Rickard)

The Carrigans launched the Where There’s A Will charity with the aim of improving children’s mental health through education, starting at school but involving the whole community.

“I realised that you could actually immunise a child for their future, that you could teach them resilience and give them a cup half-full [mentality] in simple terms that prepares them for the knockbacks that they are going to take,” Mrs Carrigan said.

With funding from the charity, school teachers have undergone special training. Positive education programs have been introduced into more than 20 schools in the Hunter Valley.

Kim Wilson, a Year 1 teacher at St Mary’s Primary in Scone, said she was already seeing results.

“In two terms of doing this the language has changed, the kids are expressing their feelings, and they can say why they are happy and why they are sad,” Ms Wilson said.

Where There’s A Will is also running “mental health first aid” programs for adults in the community to help them identify children who are struggling.

Media player: “Space” to play, “M” to mute, “left” and “right” to seek.

VIDEO: A message from the sons of the Upper Hunter to their fathers. Video by the Where There’s A Will charity. (ABC News)

Simon Murray, who heads the Positive Education Schools Association, said he was convinced what was happening in the Upper Hunter could lead to change across Australia.

“We will get data and evidence and publish that and this could become an exemplar for other regional centres and cities,” he said.

“This is a terribly important initiative for the rest of this country and I just hope the policy makers, the bureaucrats and the politicians, are actually noticing what’s happening.”

Mrs Carrigan said the hard work by Where There’s A Will and its supporters was paying off.

“We know that two boys who were contemplating suicide reached out for help and both came from that fact that they had been involved in [positive education] programs within the last six weeks,” she said.

“We lost our son, we won’t get him back. It’s our duty to make sure that other people don’t have to go through this and that’s the bottom line.”

‘Makes you pretty proud’

Hilton and Pauline Carrigan with Todd Greenberg.

PHOTO: NRL CEO Todd Greenberg is proud the sporting community came together for Where There’s A Will. (ABC News: Jerry Rickard)

Back at the rugby league, Will’s former teammates said what happened to their friend had changed them all.

“It’s a big thing and I think it’s great what Pauline and the foundation are doing,” Tom Hagen said.

“Just getting word out into the community, just get a bit of awareness into people that it’s alright to talk and they don’t have to fight all their battles alone.”

NRL CEO Todd Greenberg attended the Where There’s a Will round.

“Makes you pretty proud as a leader of a sport to be here today and actually see this community come together for such an important cause,” he said.

After the game the local sports club was jam-packed for the auctioning of the players’ jerseys, with all proceeds going to the charity.

The last jersey to go was number 14, Will Carrigan’s.

“I think a lot of people in the room will know what it stands for,” Mr Greenberg told those gathered.

“I encourage you to bid strongly for it. I’m going to put the first one up for the NRL at $3,000.”

The bidding was fierce but the final offer of $13,500 was made by Mr Greenberg. And he’s sending the jersey home.

“This jersey could take pride of place in the rugby league museum, in a lot of places, but it belongs with the Carrigan family,” he said.
[“Source-abc”]

September 18, 2017 0 comment