Girl students of government schools remain vulnerable to sexual assault and molestation. But many of the cases go unreported as parents of the victims don’t prefer to file complaints as they think it would spoil the reputation of their family.
Many times when such incidents happen, the parents of grown up girls silently withdraw the student from the school and readmit them in another school or stop their studies. This emboldens the teachers to indulge in such crimes who see the young girl students as an easy target. Though the parents report it to the school authorities, they try to cover up the issue and the accused go unpunished.
The recent incident of sexual assault on a minor girl studying in third standard by her 57-year-old male teacher at Irulanchanthai Government Primary School is only the tip of the iceberg. It was only last week that another incident of assault on a fourth standard girl by her teacher was reported. After inquiry, the 56-year-old teacher Ravindra Kumar of Government Primary School (GPS) Sellipet was placed under suspension on charges of molestation.
Even though these two incidents came to light, a good number of such incidents were not reported. Only in some isolated cases, action was taken against such teachers.
In the GPS Sellipet School incident, the parents had not preferred a complaint. After the teachers had given a collective complaint to the headmaster, the inquiry was conducted and action was taken against the accused teacher.
Even if the parents report such matters to the headmaster, often it gets suppressed, said a source on condition of anonymity. Only a few cases have come to light as there was public outcry.
A few years ago the incident at Indira Nagar Government Higher Secondary School where a plus two student was reportedly molested by her male teacher during the practical class raised a lot of hue and cry. With no action on the complaint to the school authority, the incident came to light when the Students Federation of India took out a protest. The teacher was placed under suspension and later the suspension was revoked and a punishment transfer was given to him. The teacher had retired recently.
It was shocking that in the recent incident at Irulanchanthai Government Primary School, the headmaster tried to cover up the issue.Action was taken only after the parents staged a protest. It should be noted that the Education Department had taken the action only after the police registered an FIR.
If the school authorities try to cover up such incidents, it would not reach the higher ups.
Even Harikrishnan who was arrested in the Irulanchanthai Government Primary School incident had infact escaped without any major punishment when he had molested a girl student while he was working at the Alankuppam Government School four years ago. He was arrested but came out on bail. He got away with a mild punishment with the government stopping his annual increment.
A few years ago, in Jeevanantham Higher Secondary School, a 55-year-old teacher Manavalan harassed a boy student as an alibi to get his mother to school for whom he had developed a liking. The only punishment he received was a transfer.
Incidentally most of the teachers against whom such charges have come to the fore are all above the age of 50 years. Despite the Department of Education giving psychological counselling periodically to all teachers, the scenario has not changed.
Unless the government deals them with iron hand and terminates them from service, such incidents would recur.
