The MoU was signed by Child Protection and Welfare Bureau Punjab Chairperson and Member of the Provincial Assembly Sara Ahmed and Dastres Foundation Chairperson Shaiza Shahid.
Under the agreement, the two organizations will undertake joint initiatives focused on child protection awareness, community outreach, engagement with seminaries and community educational institutions, and capacity building for teachers.
Quarterly child protection and child rights awareness sessions will be organized for children. The sessions will cover children’s rights, personal safety, good touch and bad touch, positive behavior, online safety, and protection from violence and exploitation.
Dastres Foundation will support the Child Protection Bureau in conducting awareness activities at relevant seminaries and community educational institutions. Joint awareness programmes will also be arranged for parents, teachers, caregivers, religious leaders and community representatives.
The agreement also provides for quarterly training sessions for teachers, focusing on classroom management, positive discipline, child-friendly teaching methods, effective communication with children, and the timely identification of child protection concerns.
Sara Ahmed said that preventing incidents involving children requires proactive measures rather than responding only after an incident occurs. She said training teachers and other professionals who work directly with children is an important part of an effective child protection system.
She added that the safety, dignity, privacy and best interests of children would remain the priority in all joint activities. She said legal requirements, permission and consent would be ensured when using children’s personal information, photographs and videos, while concerns related to child protection would be addressed through relevant safeguarding procedures.