JOIN USThe Social Welfare Department will soon open a 24x7 exclusive helpline for counselling and receiving complaints from residents of government-run residential schools for girls.
Social Welfare Minister H Anjaneya told reporters on Wednesday that the helpline would be opened within a week. The move comes following the Bijapur incident wherein a cooking assistant at a residential school in Alamel town of Sindhagi taluk had been molesting girls for the past four years.
Earlier, Anjaneya held a meeting to review the safety measures taken in residential schools for girls. Of the 243 government-run residential schools, 114 are for girls.
The minister said he had issued orders that all residential schools for girls should have only women as wardens. Henceforth, the jurisdictional social welfare officer, the principal and warden of the residential school will be held responsible for any lapses in security.
All schools will have to mandatorily hold counselling sessions once a week, he said.
Vacancies in residential schools will be filled shortly, he said.