The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday informed the Supreme Court that child rights protection agencies like Childline, Muskan, and HAQ have been roped in to provide counselling to a seven-year-old Muslim child who was repeatedly slapped by his classmates on the orders of their teacher at a Muzaffarnagar private school. Appearing before a Bench headed by Justice A.S. Oka, Uttar Pradesh Additional Advocate General Garima Prasad informed that Childline would hold the counselling sessions with the help of Muskan. The counselling sessions would continue till April 24. The court has made it clear that the sessions should include the classmates of the boy. The State had faced flak from the Supreme Court in January for not taking steps to initiate counselling for the boy and his classmates. The court had squarely blamed the State government for its failure to provide a safe environment, recognised schools and qualified teachers for children in accordance with the Right to Education Act.The Act mandates quality, free, and compulsory education for children up to 14 years without any discrimination on the basis of caste, creed or gender.

Source-AP