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Komal: Now showing in a PMC school near you
National award winning educational animation movie, Komal will be telecast in PMC run schools. The aim is to increase awareness about sexual abuse among children and help them address it.
While cartoon characters and animation movies drive the children crazy, very soon the students of all Pune Municipal Corporation run schools will be introduced to a very different kind of animation character – Komal.
Komal, a film on child sexual abuse which won this year’s national award for best educational film, may soon become compulsory viewing in PMC-run schools in the city. It is a 10-minute animated movie about a young girl Komal. It deals with how the young girl is sexually abused by her father’s friend, the trauma thereafter and how counselling helps her finally.
“We are trying our best to decrease violence against children in schools, especially sexual abuse. We will talk to the people concerned and make sure that this film is introduced to kids in schools. We will introduce it to students of classes IV to VII as this is the appropriate age to learn about sexual abuse and important concepts like ‘Good Touch’ and ‘Bad Touch’ and also the film portrays a kid in the same age group,” said Shivaji Daundkar, education officer, PMC.
The women and child development ministry and the Central Board of Secondary Education have already endorsed the movie. It would soon be telecast in English, Hindi and 16 other languages, said officials from the ministry.
“There are some technical difficulties over the format of the movie, the picture quality and the dubbing. Once all the issues are resolved, it will be telecast by Doordarshan and regional Doordarshan channels at an appropriate time to spread awareness,” said an official from the ministry.
Talking about the movie and child sexual abuse cases, Anuradha Sahasrabudhe, founder-director of Dnyana Devi Childline said, “The movie was made by our Mumbai office. The movie has an animated character and it shows abuse in a safe way that is appropriate for children to watch. Child sexual abuse was always there and we cannot say that it is increasing or there is a trend. However, the increasing number of cases being reported is due to increasing awareness. The number of such cases will come down only with further awareness about the problem in the society and better communication between parents and children.”
The movie is already available in Youtube and other websites. At the 62nd National Film Awards, Komal and Behind the Glass Wall were declared as the best educational films in the country on March 24.
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