The arrival of the 21st century brings with it opportunities and threats, and as change agents, we have lost the right to be ignorant. Without the right knowledge, the digital age in the wrong hands can be a weapon for mass destruction. The digital age brings with a lot of activity such as gay acts, transgender, pornography which has gone viral as a result of the internet and easily accessible to children. If we as teachers, parents remain in our analog age we can’t protect the digital child.

ABUSE OF CHILDREN

A recent report conducted by UNICEF discovered an increase in violence against children in Nigeria. 1 in 2 children experience emotional violence, 15.1% of girls and 24.8% of boys first experience sexual violence at school and a lot of our children are not reporting abuse on them because they think that no one will believe them. In Lagos, Gov. Ambode signed into law the Child Rights Protection Law stating that it shall be mandatory for all Lagos state child focus organization authorities to adopt the child protection policy. Edu-aid is creating awareness that teachers have a role to play in protecting the rights of children.

ROLE OF THE SCHOOL

Teachers need to be aware of the dangers of child abuse and its effect. They are to report any hint of abuse on the children. Firstly, there are three kinds of abusers:

• Deliberate abuser
• Reflective abuser- this kind abuses a child without meaning to. He/she does it unconsciously.
• The silent operator- this one is aware of the abuse going on and does nothing about it.

The abuser does four things; profiles the child grooms the child, attacks and manipulate the child. The abuser goes in search for the quiet child who can’t stand up for himself when abused and start to call the child funny names from then goes on to manipulate and abuse the child. This is why teachers must be trained on child protective policies and also create a warm school environment where the children feel connected as this enables them to have a better behavioral outcome.

The world is a big place and we need to focus to change our environment and our self. We are the change the world needs today and we must make commitments to safeguard our child, protect them from child abuse.