Children who are sexually abused, parents often try to hide it

Many parents are concerned about their children's future so they endure, or make agreements and endure, so that criminals are not punished.

Recently, in our country, there have been consecutive cases of children in general and students in particular being sexually abused, affecting their psychology and health.

According to experts, to prevent children from being sexually abused, it is important to provide them with knowledge about gender, age psychology and prevention skills. However, to do this, it requires the cooperation of the family, school and management agencies.

Children need to be taught skills to prevent sexual abuse.

According to the National Target Program for Child Protection (2011-2015), in 5 years, the country discovered over 8,200 cases of child abuse, of which the number of cases of sexual abuse accounted for 5,300 cases (about 65%). The most recent case was the case of more than 20 students from 5 to 10 years old at La Pan Tan Primary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities, Muong Khuong District, Lao Cai Province, who were sexually abused by school security guards many times, some for 3 years.

This incident has affected the children’s psychology and health, and their parents are worried and upset. Most suspects in child sexual abuse cases are relatives of the victims.

The reason for this situation is that parents, schools, local authorities and relevant agencies have not yet properly recognized the importance of sex education for children, especially knowledge about preventing sexual abuse, so they have not equipped children with basic knowledge to protect themselves.

In reality, parents rarely discuss issues related to gender and sexual knowledge with their children, or talk about them in a forbidden way. Most parents do not mention skills to handle situations such as what to do if they are abused or sexually assaulted, which also leaves children unprepared and not knowing how to handle the situation when it happens.

Sex education for children in schools only stops at introducing the human body and personal hygiene, without focusing on educating children with deeper knowledge about sex, psychology and physiology according to each age group, and self-protection skills.

Doctor Nguyen Trong An, former Deputy Director of the Department of Child Care and Protection (Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs) said: “Schools and teachers lack the skills to educate students. They cram too much cultural knowledge but life skills, skills to prevent sexual abuse, and skills to protect and care for children are very weak.

Teachers' knowledge is very weak, time for support, including programs such as sex education... these skills are all lacking".

In addition, the network of staff and collaborators on child protection and care is both lacking and weak, leading to ineffective propaganda and support for children in protecting themselves. Books, newspapers and documents on sex education and prevention of sexual abuse are still dry, not rich and vivid enough to attract children to read.

According to experts, in today's changing society, child sexual abuse is not just a rare phenomenon but is gradually becoming more and more serious. Therefore, it is important to teach children basic knowledge about sex and sexual abuse to know how to prevent it.

The responsibility for educating children lies primarily with their families and sex education should be given as early as possible.

Dr. Vu Thu Huong, lecturer at the Faculty of Primary Education, Hanoi National University of Education said: “The most important thing parents must do is to be aware that their children are at risk of being abused at any time, anywhere.

We have to teach our children from the age of 2-3, teach them self-defense, teach them how to avoid when someone touches them, teach them to take care of themselves, keep clean and know how to prevent risks of abuse such as not going out too late at night, not going to areas where the streets are too deserted, not listening to strangers...

What you need to know is not to touch too closely, especially in the area under your underwear.”

On the part of management agencies, it is necessary to develop documents, books, newspapers, and photos on sex education and anti-sexual abuse to disseminate and support parents with basic knowledge to teach their children. Organize training sessions to improve knowledge on child protection and care for officials of state management agencies on children, especially primary and secondary school teachers.

Dr. Nguyen Tung Lam, Chairman of the Hanoi Association of Educational Psychology, said that the Education and Training sector needs to review plans to protect children's safety, especially in the boarding and semi-boarding school system.

It is necessary to make sex education a subject in the general education program, in which the focus is on knowledge about reproductive health, age-appropriate psychology, skills to prevent sexual abuse... rather than general knowledge: "Regarding sexual abuse in sex education programs, it has been mentioned, but my point of view is that it should be a whole issue to discuss with children, guiding them according to the subjects of each grade level so that we can come up with an education program.

The Ministry of Education and Training must also control this program, not just let each locality do it. It must be included in the program as proper lessons so that children can have systematic contact, along with propaganda pictures, giving children situations to practice to create reflexes, create habits to have awareness of how to protect themselves.

From a legal perspective, there should be sanctions and forms of treatment that are strict and sufficiently deterrent to those who sexually abuse children, avoiding the situation where the abusers threaten or even threaten the lives of the victims.

However, experts also point out that the biggest barrier to protecting children from abuse today is the awareness of the importance of sex education among Vietnamese parents. There have been many cases of children being sexually abused, but parents are concerned about their children's future, so they endure, or make agreements and endure, so that the criminals are not prosecuted.

Any changes by the management agency as well as reforms in the education and training sector are useless if they encounter opposition from parents./.

According to VOV