Minister for School Education Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi said on Tuesday that his department was considering to constitute a committee to handle complaints of sexual abuse and harassment from students.
“It is important to receive such complaints and ensure that genuine complaints are acted upon. We need an accessible system in place that can work on the ground, similar to how the Chief Educational Officers (CEOs) are in touch with the schools in their jurisdiction,” he said.
‘Probe under way’
The police, he said, were probing the allegations of sexual harassment against a Chennai private school teacher.
“While the Department of Education has issued guidelines for the conduct of online classes, it is clear now that many schools are not strictly following them. We will go through the guidelines again and reiterate the best practices...,” he said, of the charge of misbehaviour against the teacher during online classes. He underscored the need for all schools to have an internal complaints committee under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.
‘No complaints received’
After the arrest of its teacher, G. Rajagopalan, on the charge of sexual harassment, the school reiterated that the management had never received any written complaint from anyone in the past. In a statement, the school said the issue was first brought to the attention of the management through social media and a formal inquiry had been initiated.
“We have never received any written complaint on this matter from anyone. The behaviour of one teacher does not in any way detract from the highest standards of professionalism that our teachers uphold. For us, our students’ welfare is absolutely sacrosanct,” the principal said. The statement said the school welcomed all assistance by the authorities concerned to deal with the situation. It said the management acted swiftly to suspend the teacher and take steps to avoid recurrence of such incidents.
“In our over 60 years’ legacy, we have never had such a situation with an errant teacher. It is a wake-up call for all schools and we have to be ever vigilant. We are constituting a special senior group, drawn from both legal and non-legal backgrounds, to guide us to ensure that such incidents don’t recur again,” the dean said.