Coimbatore: Schools told to place complaint boxes to report sexual abuse

COIMBATORE: The district administration has strictly asked the schools to place complaint boxes on their campuses for the children to report sexual abuse cases and take action on them immediately through the Childline. Headmasters have been asked to send the action taken report to the district education officer, district chief education officer and the Childline as well.
The schools have also been asked to set up an internal complaints committee comprising teachers, parents, social activists, women police officers and representatives of girl students.
The move come in the wake of the suicide of a Class XII girl student, who hung herself at her house recently after she was sexually harassed by her physics teacher.
The compliant box, as per the guidelines issued by the district administration, should have a lock with two sets of keys. While one set should be with a senior schoolteacher, the remaining one should be entrusted to the district social welfare officer or head of district legal services authority.
The district administration has asked all the schools to display contact details of education department officials, police officers of nearby police stations and child safety welfare inspectors with the all-woman police stations on their information boards to allow the children to report sexual harassment cases.