Safe Hands and Happy Hearts: A Multi-Centric Empirical Evaluation of Personal Safety Awareness Regarding Appropriate and Inappropriate Touch Among Primary School Students in Madurai, India

Abstract

This study evaluates the baseline level of personal safety awareness regarding appropriate ("good") and inappropriate ("bad") touch among primary school students in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India.¹ Utilizing a quantitative, non-experimental descriptive research design, the investigation assessed a cohort of primary school students at the Elango Corporation Higher Secondary School in Shenoy Nagar, Madurai.¹ A structured 30-item multiple-choice questionnaire was administered to evaluate anatomical boundary recognition, touch differentiation, and protective behavioral responses.¹ The descriptive results revealed that 90% (n = 45) of the evaluated sample possessed adequate personal safety knowledge, while 10% (n = 5) demonstrated moderate knowledge, and no students scored in the inadequate category.¹ Inferential statistical analysis using the Chi-square () test established a significant association between students' safety awareness levels and both gender () and family structure ().¹ Conversely, no statistically significant associations were found with chronological age, religious background, parental education, or parental occupation.¹ These findings highlight how localized, well-resourced school environments and gender-specific domestic socialization patterns shape a child's understanding of bodily autonomy. The study underscores the necessity of integrating multi-modal safety education into primary curricula and extending training frameworks to parents and educators to build robust protective buffers for vulnerable cohorts.