By Madhumati Pushkarini Devi Dasi

Srila Prabhupada, through his books and letters to his disciples, has repeatedly instructed all of us on how important it is to protect the children in our society and provide them with all the opportunities that are necessary for their advancement in Krishna consciousness. ISKCON’s Central Office of Child Protection, established by the GBC of ISKCON, conducted in the month of August 2015, a 3-day advanced all India training program for all members of the society across the country who are working with children in various capacities with an aim to comply with this instruction that is so crucial for the well being of our society.

With around 117 participants from more than 30 ISKCON centers across the country, the training brought home the message very clearly that ISKCON, as an organization, is now seriously working towards creating safer environments for children, be it in temples or in schools. Thus we had participants who represented not only ISKCON schools but also temples and devotee congregations. A unique aspect of the training program this time was the collaboration of the ISKCON Ministry of Education and the Child Protection Office, which was very apt since a holistic education can be provided to a child only in a protective environment and only through planned and expert educational programs we can assure a protective environment. Set in the serene environment of the ISKCON centre, Govardhan Eco Village, at Wada, India, the mood was just right to appreciate the matchless gift of Krishna consciousness given by our founder acharya, His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and acknowledge the fact that we can strive to repay back the debt we owe to him by passing on the gift to our next generation, carefully and responsibly.

The CPO Director, HG Champakalata mataji and members of the ISKCON MoE, HG Prana prabhuji and Ramgiridhari prabhuji along with HG Bhaktarupa prabhuji packaged a program that had everything that an educator could ask for and more. All of us became students and we were as though under the expert guidance of teachers who had all their lessons perfectly planned with articulate PowerPoint presentations, interesting videos and interactive activities. The objective of the training program, which was to create Child Protection Teams (CPTs) in every ISKCON centre across the country, was laudable and our trainers seemed to be perfectly equipped in meeting it.

With the aim of expanding the devotees’ network, there was an interesting ice-breaker and team building session conducted by Champakalata mataji. The first presentation of the day started with Ramgiridhari prabhuji, from the MoE, ISKCON, who spoke about how the paradigm of education was gradually changing and how the MoE was working along with the CPO to ensure that all ISKCON schools also adapt to the change in order to provide safe learning environment to our children. This was followed by HG Bhaktarupa prabhu who very eloquently presented the structure of CPO, its history, its role and duties. It helped us understand our own role and responsibilities as effective CPTs in the future in connection with the CPO.

Following this was an introductory session on child abuse given by Champakalata mataji, giving us an overview on what is child abuse, the various forms of it, where child abuse could possibly happen, who could be an ideal victim and who could be an abuser. This session was an eye-opener to many who were under the assumption that sexual abuse is the only form of abuse (though it is definitely one of the most serious one) or that only some children are vulnerable to it and that the abuser is most likely to be a social misfit. These and many such myths were expertly broken by Champakalatha mataji when she presented the facts of child abuse and the statistics associated with it.

We were told in great details about the extent of child abuse prevalent in India, which is at an alarming 53% and the different forms of abuse such as emotional abuse, physical abuse, neglect and sexual abuse along with their indicators. Statistics on the extent of child abuse within ISKCON was again like a rude shock to many of us who were unaware of certain facts.

After equipping us with these details there were group activities that spurred a whole lot of discussion and we were able to identify many indicators of child abuse that we would have otherwise overlooked. Since many of the participants had experience of working with children in different capacities, we could immediately empathize with the traumatic experience that children go through owing to some form of abuse. The session was winded up with discussing on the urgency that is required to create awareness about child abuse in the society among parents, schools and temples. During this discussion many raised the issue of dealing with the negative publicity associated with child abuse that ISKCON may have to face especially when the perpetrators are in some way linked to the society. Champakalata mataji very boldly replied that world (secular society included) leaders are trying to deal with child abuse and the integrity of ISKCON lay in not covering it up or pushing it under the carpet but coming out with policies and awareness on how to deal with it and to prevent abuse.

Day two again saw us engaged in a number of interactive sessions, which resulted in the attendees realizing that that as leaders we need to engage everybody as per their skill with the mood of co-operation. An interesting session conducted by Prana prabhu gave more insight into many disciplining techniques that help prevent physical and emotional abuse in schools.

Later during the day, there were some interesting videos shown to us on the ways of creating awareness among children about sexual abuse. This once again was followed by a group activity wherein we had to identify some ways other than those that were already discussed of spreading this awareness among children.

On the last day of the training Champakalata mataji after taking several questions from the participants, gave an overview of interviewing techniques, which is one of the crucial aspects of dealing with child abuse. She practically demonstrated the finer aspects of interviewing the victims, on how to set the scene, the body language, clarity of speech of the interviewer and the interviewing process. This was again followed by group activity that helped us get exposed to the nuances of the interviewing process, which is most crucial in terms of arriving at a decision about the abuse and also realize the responsibility involved as a member of CPT.

As one of the participants of the program and as an educator, I tremendously benefitted from the training and felt more equipped than before in identifying child abuse in school environments and dealing with the learning behavior among children. I was especially encouraged and grateful to see the initiative taken by ISKCON leaders in pushing forward the huge task of passing Krishna consciousness to the next generation by ensuring a safe, healthy and protected environment. We look forward to many such training programs, held more frequently so as to spread the awareness and place all the barriers that are necessary to prevent child abuse completely in our society.

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