The first National Study on Child Abuse, covering 13 states and a sample size of 12,446 children and released by Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury today, says that 53% of children faced some kind of abuse.

The study found that boys were as much at risk as girls. The ‘‘disturbing” fact was that 70% of the children never reported the abuse. Compared to those in the age group 13-18, younger children (5-12 years) faced higher levels of abuse.

According to the study, states like Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Delhi reported high levels of abuse.

An alarming trend revealed by the study was that the highest percentage of abusers were known people — friends and family — thereby dispelling the long-held notion of “safe families”.

Chowdhury said the dismal level of awareness about sexual abuse among children necessitated “mandatory sex education” in schools. Her statement comes at a time when Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have banned sex education in schools on the ground that it’s “not compatible with Indian culture”.

On the ban, Chowdhury said her Ministry was “concerned” and was in touch with the states. Saying there was a “pressing need” for sex education in school syllabi, she said: “Possibly the language and treatment will have to be changed.”

The Ministry is said to be working on an Offence Against Children (Prevention) Bill which is expected to be brought before Parliament during the monsoon session. The proposed Bill aims to define child abuse offence in a far more comprehensive manner.

Focusing on five forms of abuse, the study found that in both rural and urban areas, 48.4% of girls wished they were boys, a pointer to the discrimination they faced in family and society.

In case of sexual abuse, more than half the child respondents (53.22%) reported facing one or more forms of sexual abuse, either in the form of sexual assault or some kind of sexual advances. Almost 21% respondents admitted to severe forms of sexual abuse — fondling of private parts, exhibiting private parts or being photographed nude. Of these, 6% reported to have been sexually assaulted.

Across different ages, the severest form of sexual abuse victims turned out to be children in the age group 11-16 while instances declined between age 16-18 years. Seventy three per cent of sexual abuse victims were in the age group 11-18.

About 69% of children said they had faced physical abuse by way of beating, burning, kicking or had been harmed otherwise. Almost 65 % of physical abuse victims were children in the age group 5-12.

Almost half the children in the country have suffered emotional abuse in the form of verbal, mental abuse or some kind of humiliation like girl-child neglect. In this case too, the largest victims of emotional abuse (47%) were children in the age group 5-12.

The study also highlighted that among different types of child groups — child in family, school children, child labourers, street children and children in institutional care — child labourers and street children were most vulnerable to sexual abuse. According to the study, about 62% of children at work and about 55% of street children faced some sort of sexual abuse.