Kochi: Amid rising sexual violence against children, the Kerala government has decided to add the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act) to the school syllabus.

The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) told the Kerala High Court that awareness of the POCSO Act would be added to the school curriculum from the next academic year.

SCERT told the court that textbooks would be prepared by experts giving due importance and sensitivity to this issue. Workshops would be conducted for teachers regarding the revised curriculum, it said.

While considering a bail application, Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas noted that school-going and teenage students often get into consensual sexual relations with each other, unaware of the severe consequences under the POCSO Act. The court said that this is because the children do not have any awareness of the legal provisions under the POCSO Act.

When the matter was taken up, SCERT counsel said that for students of standards I, III, V, VI, VIII and IX, POCSO awareness would be included in their curriculum from the  2024-25 academic year.  "For students of standards II, IV, VII and X, POCSO awareness will be implemented from the academic year 2025-26," he said.

The Court while applauding the efforts taken by the SCERT in taking steps for including POCSO awareness in the school curriculum orally remarked that “Kerala could be the first state to do this”.

(With Live Law inputs)