Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 training, child protection policy drafting and mandatory-reporting compliance — delivered onsite across Lucknow and Uttar Pradesh, and online across India.
Safe Today. Strong Tomorrow — school safety workshops by Nawal Foundation
CBSE guidelines require schools to conduct regular awareness and capacity-building programmes on POSH, POCSO and mental well-being for all staff. Since 2014, Nawal Foundation has been a trusted partner for schools in Lucknow building safe, inclusive and legally compliant learning environments.
POCSO training is a mandatory child-safeguarding awareness programme under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 — the law that defines sexual offences against children in India and requires anyone in charge of a child's care to know how to prevent, recognise and report them.
It applies to schools, colleges, hostels, coaching institutes, NGOs, orphanages, sports academies and any organisation where adults work with children. Training must cover teaching staff, non-teaching staff, transport and support staff, and management — because the duty to report under the Act falls on every one of them individually, not on the institution as a whole. Failure to report a known or suspected offence is itself a punishable offence under Section 21, carrying imprisonment up to six months, a fine, or both.
What the law actually requires of your institution, section by section.
Section 19 — Mandatory reporting Any person, including a teacher, doctor or staff member, who has knowledge or apprehension that an offence under the Act has been or is likely to be committed, must report it to the Special Juvenile Police Unit or local police. This duty is personal — it cannot be delegated upward and waited on.
Section 21 — Failure to report Failure to report is punishable with imprisonment up to six months, a fine, or both. For a person in charge of an institution, failure to report attracts imprisonment up to one year, a fine, or both.
Section 20 Media, studio and photographic facility staff who come across material depicting a child in an obscene or sexually explicit act must report it — a duty schools should extend to their own IT and administrative staff.
POCSO Rules, 2020 — institutional duty Every school and institution must constitute a child protection policy, appoint a nodal person for reporting, and conduct regular orientation for staff and awareness sessions for children, as directed by the NCPCR and State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights.
RTE Act & CBSE / State Board circulars Recognised schools are separately required by education boards to maintain a child protection policy, conduct staff background verification, and run safe-touch/unsafe-touch modules for students — requirements that overlap with, but do not replace, POCSO compliance.
Awareness of the Act is not optional for staff, and it is not the same as a general safeguarding briefing. A teacher who suspects abuse and reports it to the principal instead of the police, believing they have "done their duty," has not met the legal standard — and the institution has no defence for not having trained them on this distinction.
Complete child-protection compliance, scoped to a school, hostel, NGO or childcare setting.
What the Act defines as an offence, how to recognise warning signs, and the exact reporting procedure — for teaching, non-teaching, transport and support staff alike.
Age-appropriate safe-touch/unsafe-touch modules that teach children to recognise and speak up — delivered with the sensitivity a child audience requires.
A written policy aligned to the POCSO Act, POCSO Rules 2020 and your education board's circulars — not a downloaded template with your school's name inserted.
Guidance on background verification, reference checks and induction training so safeguarding starts before a staff member's first day, not after an incident.
Procedural guidance the moment a disclosure or suspicion arises — the stage where institutions most often delay, mishandle evidence, or fail to report in time.
A yearly check that your policy, staff training records, nodal officer appointment and reporting protocol would withstand a board inspection or parent complaint.
Any institution where an adult is in a position of care, authority or trust over a child.
Teaching staff, non-teaching staff, transport and canteen staff, hostel wardens, and school management committees.
Wardens and residential care staff, where children are in an institution's care around the clock and supervision gaps carry the highest risk.
Faculty and administrative staff working one-on-one or in small groups with minors outside a formal school structure.
Anganwadi workers, shelter home staff and field teams working directly with vulnerable children in Lucknow and across Uttar Pradesh.
Coaches and support staff in one-on-one training environments, an area POCSO awareness frequently overlooks.
Anganwadi centres, District Child Protection Units and allied bodies needing documented, audit-ready staff training.
Project Suraksha is our dedicated child-safety initiative in Lucknow. POCSO training is not a compliance add-on for us — it is a continuation of grassroots work we have done with children and families for over a decade.
A five-step engagement built for a school calendar, not a one-off assembly.
We review your existing child protection policy (if any), staff structure, and whether a nodal reporting person has been appointed — and tell you plainly where you currently stand.
Staff sessions and student modules are set to the right age band, language, and format — onsite, online or hybrid — and scheduled around your academic calendar.
Case-based, non-graphic sessions for staff; age-appropriate, facilitator-led sessions for students. Trained facilitators only for any session involving minors.
Participation certificates for staff plus an attendance and coverage record for your compliance file and board inspection.
Policy handover, nodal officer handholding, and a scheduled annual refresher aligned to your academic year.
| Programme | Duration | For | Mode |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staff awareness & reporting training | 2–3 hours | Teaching & non-teaching staff | Onsite / Online |
| Student safe-touch session (primary) | 45 minutes | Grades 1–5 | Onsite, in-classroom |
| Student safety session (middle & senior) | 60 minutes | Grades 6–12 | Onsite, in-classroom |
| Leadership & management briefing | 90 minutes | Principals, trustees, management | Onsite / Online |
| Annual refresher | 2 hours | All staff | Online |
All formats available in English, Hindi or bilingual delivery.
Dr. Arrpita Kapoor holds a Ph.D. in Law and leads Nawal Foundation's work on women's and children's rights, including Project Suraksha — our child-safety initiative in Lucknow. POCSO sessions delivered by someone with a legal specialisation in this exact area, not a generalist trainer reading from a slide deck.
Project Suraksha fieldwork: Nawal Foundation's child-safety initiative has taken our team into schools, Anganwadi-linked programmes and community settings across Lucknow and Uttar Pradesh — running awareness camps, safe-touch modules and family outreach long before POCSO compliance became a board inspection item. That grassroots field experience is what informs every staff training session, student module and child protection policy we draft today.
Our office is in Sector G, Aliganj, Lucknow, and we deliver POCSO training onsite across the city — Hazratganj, Gomti Nagar, Vibhuti Khand, Indira Nagar, Chinhat and the Amausi area — for schools, hostels and childcare institutions, usually within a week of enquiry.
Beyond the city we travel across Uttar Pradesh for onsite sessions and deliver online staff training pan-India. For schools and childcare institutions in the state, we also help identify the correct District Child Protection Unit and Special Juvenile Police Unit contacts your nodal officer will need.
As a not-for-profit, we offer subsidised and, in many cases, free sessions for government schools, Anganwadi centres and small NGOs in and around Lucknow — this work sits at the core of our founding mission, not at the edge of it.
Nawal Foundation Sector G, AliganjCost depends on the number of staff and students, the number of sessions, whether delivery is onsite or online, and whether policy drafting or an annual compliance audit is included alongside the training.
As a not-for-profit organisation, our rates typically sit below commercial consultancy pricing, and we offer subsidised or free sessions for government schools, Anganwadi centres and small NGOs. Share your institution's size and requirement and we will send a written quote within one working day.
Training led by a Ph.D. in law, built around the actual text of the Act and Rules — not a recycled child-safety slideshow.
Separate, carefully worded modules for staff and for students at each grade band — never one session delivered to everyone.
No upselling. Subsidised or free rates for government schools, Anganwadi centres and small NGOs, because this is founding-mission work for us.
12A, 80G and Darpan registered — your CSR or school welfare budget can fund this engagement.
Onsite at short notice, familiar with the local Child Welfare Committee and Special Juvenile Police Unit contacts your school will need.
POCSO training grows out of a decade of direct child-safety fieldwork, not a compliance line item added to a consultancy's service list.
The POCSO Act itself creates a personal duty on every individual to report known or suspected offences under Section 19. In practice, education boards including CBSE and several State Boards separately mandate that recognised schools maintain a child protection policy and train staff — making structured POCSO training a practical necessity, not just a legal nicety.
Under Section 21, failure to report is a punishable offence — imprisonment up to six months, a fine, or both, for an individual. For a person in charge of an institution who fails to report, the punishment extends to imprisonment up to one year, a fine, or both. Reporting "up the chain" internally does not satisfy this duty; the report must reach the police or Special Juvenile Police Unit.
Any person — not just staff in a formal safeguarding role. A teacher, a bus driver, an office assistant, a coach or a counsellor who has knowledge or a reasonable apprehension that an offence has occurred or is likely to occur must report it. The duty is individual and cannot be discharged by informing a superior alone.
Definitions of offences under the Act, recognising behavioural and physical warning signs in children, the exact reporting procedure and who to contact, documentation requirements, and what the law expects from an institution once a disclosure is made. Delivered without graphic detail and appropriate for a mixed staff audience.
Yes, using age-appropriate safe-touch/unsafe-touch modules delivered separately for primary, middle and senior grade bands, by trained facilitators, with language calibrated to the age group. We do not use a single session format across all ages.
POSH (the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013) governs adult employees in a workplace. POCSO (the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012) governs the safety of minors and applies wherever adults are in a position of care or authority over children. A school needs both: POSH for its employees, and POCSO for its students. See our POSH training services.
Yes. We are based in Sector G, Aliganj and conduct onsite POCSO training across Lucknow, usually within a week of enquiry. We also travel across Uttar Pradesh and deliver online staff training pan-India.
Yes. As a not-for-profit, we offer subsidised and, in many cases, free sessions for government schools, Anganwadi centres and small NGOs in and around Lucknow. Share your institution's details and we will confirm eligibility.
A child protection policy is a written document setting out your institution's code of conduct for staff, reporting procedure, nodal person for POCSO compliance, and safeguards for visitors, transport and off-campus activities. The POCSO Rules, 2020 and most education board circulars expect institutions working with children to maintain one.
Training alone does not replace background verification, but we advise institutions on building a screening checklist for new hires, reference checks and an induction module covering the child protection policy — so safeguarding starts before a staff member's first day.
At least once a year for all staff, with induction training for every new hire before they begin working with children. Student safety sessions are typically repeated annually as children move up grade bands, since the content and language need to evolve with age.
Listen without interrogating, do not promise confidentiality, do not contact the alleged offender, and report to the police or Special Juvenile Police Unit without delay — internal reporting to a principal or management does not fulfil the legal reporting duty. Our incident response advisory service supports institutions through this process directly.
Practical guides for schools, NGOs and childcare institutions.
Tell us about your institution and requirement. We respond within one working day.
Phone: +91 95595 99991
Email: contact@nawalfoundation.in
Office: Sector G, Aliganj, Lucknow — 226024
Programme outline, staff and student modules, formats and what is covered in each.
Disclaimer: The information on this page is intended for general awareness and training purposes and should not be treated as legal advice for a specific matter. Organisations should obtain appropriate professional advice for individual cases.
Page last reviewed: August 2026 · Content reviewed by Nawal Foundation training team