Chennai school suspends teacher following sexual harassment complaints by students and alumni

CHENNAI: Following complaints of sexual harassment from students and alumni against male teacher, PSBB Senior Secondary School in KK Nagar on Monday suspended him pending inquiry.
After the posts on Instagram and Facebook had gone viral, the school education department conducted the inquiry at the school on Monday.
Speaking to the reporters, school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi said the department would take action against the teacher if he was found guilty.
"Some very serious allegations of misconduct have been alleged against you and the same has come to the knowledge of the management from and through social media. Pending further inquiry into your conduct, without prejudice, you are under suspension with immediate effect," school principal Geetha Govindarajan said in an order issued to the teacher on Monday.
Speaking to TOI, Geetha confirmed that the teacher was placed under suspension. "The school came to know about the allegations only on Sunday. We will form a committee to inquire the allegations," she said.
Earlier, Chennai district chief educational officer A Anitha visited the school on Monday. "We have visited the school and conducted an online inquiry with the school management regarding the allegations. We asked the school management to submit a report about the entire issue. We are awaiting the report from them," Anitha said.
It all started during an online discussion on incidents of discrimination faced by the students. Soon, many students started to share their experience which was shared on Instagram by model and alumni of the school M Kripali. Students alleged that a teacher in the school had attended an online class while wearing a towel. A student shared a screenshot alleging that he asked her whether she was free to go out for a movie with him.
A police team, led by the deputy commissioner of police H Jayalakshmi, visited the school to inquire about the teacher based on the complaints found in social media. One of the police officers, who is a part of the squad, said, “When we reached the school, the school teacher was not there. We have contacted a few girls who levelled the allegations against him. After getting a formal complaint from one of the students, we will register a case against the teacher for harassing girls.”