Rising concern over child molestation cases

In 2014, Huangpu district was the first in the city to distribute booklets to school students and residential communities on the prevention of sexual assault. The booklets are now distributed throughout the city.

According to experts, if juveniles are sexually assaulted in public, they should shout for help.

Zhu Daqian, deputy director of psychology at the Children's Hospital of Fudan University in Shanghai, said it may be hard for a child to say "stop" out loud to an adult, so parents and teachers must help them through role-playing activities.

Sun said the Girls' Protection Program learned that after receiving such education, children had avoided assault on public transportation. Others had told their parents after falling victim to assault in similar circumstances.

"This helps them avoid being a victim for a second time," she said.

Liu Xing, a 17-year-old girl from Chongqing, said this education helps minors to not only protect themselves but also others.

She once found a man edging closer to a girl younger than herself on the subway, and the girl was moving toward Liu. "I said out loud to the man, 'You get off at this stop, right? Otherwise you should not have got closer and closer'." Heeding Liu's comments, the man got off at that stop.

On June 1, Shanghai became the first provincial-level region in the country to require anyone seeking a job near places where juveniles gather to have no record of sexual misconduct. Such places include schools, educational and physical training institutions, hospitals and child welfare facilities.

The policy applies not only to teachers, doctors, coaches and caregivers, but also to security guards, gatekeepers, school bus drivers and cleaners who have opportunities to come into contact with minors during their work.

Sun said: "Some scenarios, such as one or two little kindergarten girls being taken by a male teacher from one spot to another in a school, are hard to avoid. As a result, we demand powerful systems to protect vulnerable children."