Sexual harassment in schools on the rise

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Sexual harassment in schools on the rise

HYDERABAD: The alleged rape of a class XI student of Parkwood International School by its director, might have shocked the city. But activists dealing with child and youth issues claim that sexual harassment in schools are alarmingly on the rise. 

From posh private schools to dilapidated government ones, children in their early teens are getting molested and even raped while in school, observes child rights activists from the city who are now fighting for children's right to safe education rather than free education. Some of the activists have even asked for implementation of a redressal mechanism for child grievances in all schools in the state to ensure safety of children. 

According to activists, the number of students who get molested every year in state schools would be nothing less than a couple of hundred. While the number indicates only the reported cases, most of which come from private schools in urban areas, the government schools in the city and semi-urban localities take the next place in the abuse chart. 

When asked about reported cases, the city police officials said that the number of cases reported in the past two years, itself would be an indication to the kind of `abuse traps' the schools have become. "In a recent case, a 10-year-old child was repeatedly molested by her physical education teacher in a private school. While the parents complained at first, they did not want to register a case and hence the teacher could get away with just a dismissal order when he should have been punished for statutory rape," a police official said. 

In a more gruesome case, a 14-year-old class IX student who was repeatedly raped by her teacher was forced to deliver a child as the parents were not aware of her pregnancy. The case was reported from a city government school and the only punishment doled out to the accused was a suspension, an activist who dealt with the case said. 

"While most students who were molested reported the matter directly to their parents, in many cases the issue was hushed up. There is a great fear among the parents to come out with such cases and the schools punish the teachers by dismissing them. The same teacher would continue in some other school and continue to molest other students," said M Venkat Reddy, director, MV Foundation. Referring to the Parkwood case, he said that even high end schools like international and global ones should be under the government scanner to prevent such instances of harassment. 

Due to the rise in cases, an NGO working with child rights, Divya Disha has petitioned the secondary education department to put in place a redressal mechanism for children where they are allowed to report such cases. "We have asked the state government to introduce a redressal mechanism for students grievances along with the implementation of the Right to Education Act (RTA). We have also requested them to formulate a time-bound framework for starting such redressal mechanisms in schools," said Isidore Phillips, convener, Divya Disha. The NGO has petitioned the principal secretary of school education, Sambashiva Rao on the implementation of sexual harassment combat mechanisms in schools.