John Stafford
Ceist:177 Mr. Stafford asked the Minister for Education if he will direct all schools to include/improve education regarding child abuse in the current sex education programme, and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Child Abuse Prevention Programme.
John Stafford
Ceist:179 Mr. Stafford asked the Minister for Education the current and/or planned education programmes aimed at raising awareness among school-goers of the necessity to report abuse cases.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 177 and 179 together.
The Deputy may be aware that my Department recently issued the circular entitled, Procedures for Dealing with Allegations or Suspicions of Child Abuse, which is intended to assist school management authorities and teachers in handling disclosures from children, by detailing the steps to be taken when dealing with such matters. Included with this circular were Department of Health leaflets entitled, Child Abuse Guidelines, and Child Abuse Checklist. A similar circular for post-primary schools is at present in course of preparation and will be issued shortly.
My Department are also co-operating with the Eastern Health Board in this regard and have released three teachers on secondment to the board in order to assist in the introduction of a child abuse prevention programme to primary schools in Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare. These teachers are working with social workers and are providing training for teachers on a programme which may be introduced in schools if boards of management, staff and parents agree that the programme is suitable for their school.
I will be including more comprehensive proposals on health education in the forthcoming Green Paper.