Chairman of the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) Senior Lecturer Udayakumara Amarasinghe said that parents and guardians of children should take more care of their teenagers since there is an upward trend in child abuse. The rapid increase in the number of cases of child harassment and abuse is due to less attention paid towards children by elders.
He said 3,200 educational programs have been organised at school level this year to educate the school authorities and parents on measures to prevent child abuse and harassment. Most of these programs will be held in the Kurunegala and Puttalam districts of the North Western Province (NWP) since most of the cases have been reported from the NWP. Nearly 16 school teachers and private tutors have been nabbed as suspects of child abuse this year.