Raja Zarith: All schools should have policies in place to protect kids

Raja Zarith (in pink scarf) at the launch of the TinDAK campaign.

JOHOR BARU: All schools should have a child protection policy to ensure that children are aware of ways to protect them from sexual predators.

Johor Permaisuri Raja Zarith Sofia Sultan Idris Shah said this was important as it would act as a guideline at school level.

She said that the number of physical and sexual cases against children was worrying.

Raja Zarith added that most sexual crimes involving children were perpetrated by people known to them, including friends, neighbours and people they meet online.

Based on statistics from the Welfare Department, the number of child sexual victims for last year was 1,034 cases, 978 cases in 2015 and 984 in 2014.

Raja Zarith said everyone had a responsibility to safeguard children from being exploited.

She was speaking at the launch of the TinDAK campaign here Wednesday.

The campaign is a state-wide intervention campaign dedicated to the prevention of child sexual abuse, spearheaded by the Johor Women's League (Jewel) with the support of the Johor Women's Development Department.

The first phase of the programme involved a close collaboration between Jewel and the state education department.

From April 9 to 13, the TinDAK team travelled to all 11 education districts in the state to conduct training for school counsellors from 906 primary schools.

Some 328,000 school children are expected to benefit from the ongoing programme.