Some children who were on their way from school this week began discussing the increasing cases of child abuse in society.

They described the situation as frightening and were of the view that any child could encounter abuse.

A boy, about 12 years old, remarked that he was fed up with the way his mother was abusing him. He said while she did not abuse him physically, she was always abusing him, verbally.

"Sometimes, my mother tells me some nasty words, that I feel like running away," the boy told his friends.

One of the boys disclosed that he had suffered physical abuse from his father who, "used anything he catches to hit me".

The boy said, one day, his father threw a stone at him and, if the did not run behind a tree, he was certain he would have been killed or seriously injured.

A girl said it was very sad and frightening that parents were abusing their children, but she said had great concern about those who sexually assaulted children, injuring and even murdering them.

"When are these abuses going to end?" the girls asked.

"I listened to the news, recently, and was shocked to hear of the father who had sexually assaulted his 15-year-old daughter and seriously wounded her. Just imagine your very own father doing such a horrible thing to you. I do not think the girl will ever overcome such an ordeal," she said.

"He must be a mad man to do such a thing," one of the boys replied.

The girl quickly responded "mad or not, the poor girl should not have had to face that ordeal."

"Boys and girls are subjected to abuses of all sorts because there are some homosexual men who sexually assault the boys," one of the girls said.

A girl said she was concerned that so many cases are not reported because some parents and guardians were ashamed to report the incidents, especially when a family member was the culprit.

"I tell my friends, many times, that if they were ever abused in any way, especially sexually, and their parents and guardians do not want to report it to the police, they should tell their teacher or guidance counsellor, or someone who they know who will report the matter to the police, so that the culprit can be arrested and charged," she said.

Parents and guardians must bear in mind that the Child Care and Protection Act was passed in 2005 to protect children from abuses and places responsibility on adults to report such cases.

A person who refuses to report such cases, if convicted in a Resident Magistrate's Court, is liable to a fine not exceeding $500,000 or "to a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment".