KNOWLEDGE AWARENESS PRACTICE ON CHILD ABUSE AGAINST CHILDREN AMONG SCHOOL TEACHERS

INTRODUCTION:Child abuse and neglect is still a serious social and public health problem. The damage to a child from maltreatment can range from minor to extensive physical, psychological, and behavioural problems. In the most severe cases, child abuse and neglect results in the tragic death of a child.Teachers are in a unique position to identify and report abuse because of their daily contact with young children. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate school teacher's knowledge attitude and practice regarding child abuse.The survey we developed for this study contained 10 questions.Questionnaire was based on teachers knowledge about child abuse and there attitude towards reporting child.35.7% were government school teachers, 21.4% were private sector CBSE and 41.2% were private matriculation teachers. 82% of the teachers agreed that it should be mandated o report about child abuse. 64.7% of the teachers made report of child abuse cases and 35.3% of the teachers failed to report child abuse cases. 57.7% of the teachers have planned to report of child abuse cases when they suspect it, 35.3% of the teachers have not planned to report child abuse cases and 24.1% of the teachers have not decided yet to report child abuse cases when they suspect it. CONCLUSIONS: Within the limits of this study, it can be concluded that majority of the teachers have knowledge about child abuse, they are aware of the signs and symptoms of child abuse and child neglect but they are not reporting child abuse cases.