Child Rights Education for Inclusion and Protection

The aims of child rights education are to make children and their primary duty-bearers aware of child rights so that they both can be empowered to together advocate for and apply them at their family, school and community levels. This sourcebook focuses on child rights education for primary prevention related to inclusion and protection. Child rights education for exclusion, non-discrimination and inclusion is discussed in the context of family and society with reference to girls, children with disability, and Dalit and tribal children, and child rights to cultural and financial inclusion. Child rights education for protection comprises prevention of violence against children with reference to physical abuse/ corporal punishment and bullying, commercial exploitation of children with reference to child labour and trafficking and sale of children, sexual abuse and exploitation of children, problems in adolescent sexual relationships such as violence, teenage pregnancy, abortion and unwed motherhood, and sexually transmitted infections and HIV, child marriage, and conflict with law. 

This is a necessary read for social workers, lawyers, researchers, trainers and teachers working on child rights across the world, and especially in developing countries.  

Dr. Murli Desai, MA and Ph.D. in social work, and former Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, was commissioned by CRY to prepare a series of four sourcebooks on Rights-based Direct Practice with Children. Dr. Desai has prepared two of the sourcebooks by adapting, updating and adding chapters to her book A Rights-Based Preventative Approach for Psychosocial Well-Being in Childhood, published by Springer, in 2010. Other two sourcebooks are newly prepared by her with a co-author. She has drawn from a comprehensive international literature review; curriculum planning and teaching courses on child development, child welfare and child rights in the USA, India and Singapore; consultancy projects with Governments of India, Tamil Nadu and Goa and with international organisations such as UNICEF, Child Protection Working Group and Save the Children; collaboration with voluntary organisations such as Butterflies and Child Rights in Goa; teacher training in schools; and experience of conducting and facilitating workshops for adolescents. 

Sheetal Goel has an M.A. in medical and psychiatric social work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. Thereafter, she began her career as a social work practitioner in a Mumbai-based special school for children living with disability. Further, in 1999, she joined the Cell for AIDS Research Action & Training (CARAT), a field-action project of TISS. In 2002, she also worked as a lecturer at the Medical and Psychiatric Social Work Department in TISS. She has spent a large part of her working life as an HIV counsellor, trainer, activist and researcher in Mumbai. The thrust and focus of her work area are health and sexuality-related issues. She has engaged with children, youth and professionals (that include doctors, nurses, social work students and practitioners and school teachers) through varied training sessions in HIV-related issues and life skills training.  Sheetal relocated to the United Kingdom in 2014 and currently works as a social work practitioner in the adult social care team of Surrey County Council.