Jhapa: The Mechinagar Municipality in Jhapa district has launched a campaign targeting gender-based violence (GBV) across 10 schools within the municipality. The initiative is directed at students from grades 9 to 12, aiming to address and mitigate instances of GBV through education and awareness.
According to National News Agency Nepal, the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens, in collaboration with the World Bank, is supporting this intervention. Jayanti Kharel, Chief of the Women and Children Section of Mechinagar Municipality, announced that the program commenced at Jyamirgadhi Secondary School and will progressively extend to other schools in the municipality.
Kamala Upreti, an expert with the Gender-based Violence Prevention and Response Project, highlighted that Mechinagar Municipality was specifically chosen for this campaign due to its record of the highest number of GBV cases in the province. The program intends to educate schoolchildren about gender-based violence and train them in methods to counteract, voice their concerns, and file complaints if such violence occurs.
Officials have introduced students to concepts like ‘bad touch’ and ‘good touch’ and emphasized the critical roles that teachers and schools play in preventing GBV.