Child safety & safeguarding policy

Our commitment

Navantara AI Learning Foundation works directly with children in schools, learning centers, and community settings. We accept that this places a duty of care on us that goes beyond delivering good lessons. The safety and dignity of every child comes before program targets, funding milestones, and organisational reputation.

This policy applies to everyone acting on our behalf — staff, volunteers, mentors, trainers, partner-organisation personnel, vendors, contractors, and visitors to our program sites.

Who we allow near children

• Every staff member and volunteer completes an identity and reference check before being placed at a program site.
• No adult works unsupervised with a child on their first placement. New volunteers are paired with an experienced team member.
• Anyone who declines a background check, or whose references cannot be verified, is not placed in a child-facing role.
• Placement is a decision we can reverse at any time, without needing to prove wrongdoing, if we have reasonable concern for a child's welfare.

Conduct standards

The following apply to every adult representing Navantara at any program site or online session:

• Do not spend time alone with a child out of sight or hearing of others. Where a private conversation is necessary, remain visible.
• Do not contact a child through personal phone numbers or private social media accounts. Communication runs through the school, the guardian, or an official Navantara channel.
• Do not photograph or record a child without the consent of the child and their parent or guardian, and never share such material outside approved program use.
• Do not offer gifts, money, transport, or personal favours to an individual child or their family.
• Do not use physical discipline, humiliation, shouting, or discriminatory language of any kind.
• Do not attend a session under the influence of alcohol or any intoxicant.

Reporting a concern

If you believe a child is at risk, report it — including when you are unsure, and including when the person you are concerned about is a colleague or a senior member of the organisation. It is not your job to investigate or to be certain first.

Concerns can be raised at donate@navantara.org, marked for the attention of the Safeguarding Focal Point, or by phone on +91 915 420 3796. Reports may be made anonymously.

Reports are acknowledged within one working day and assessed by the Safeguarding Focal Point together with a member of the Board.

How we respond

• Immediate risk to a child is escalated to the appropriate statutory authority, including the police and Childline (1098), without waiting for an internal process to conclude.
• Any adult who is the subject of a safeguarding concern is suspended from child-facing work while the concern is assessed.
• The child's welfare and wishes guide the response. Records are kept confidential and shared only with those who need them.
• No one who reports a concern in good faith will face retaliation. See our Whistleblower Protection Policy protections.

Review and questions

This policy is reviewed annually by the Board of Directors and updated whenever our programs, sites, or legal obligations change.

Write to donate@navantara.org or call +91 915 420 3796. Postal queries may be sent to Navantara AI Learning Foundation, Bollileni Bion, Kothaguda, Opposite Botanical Garden, Serilingampally, Kondapur, K.V. Rangareddy - 500084, Telangana.