The gruesome sexual harassment of a Class 2 student in a south Kolkata school has again raised serious questions on the safety of students within the premises. While it came to light that the teacher was sexually harassing this child for over several months, it exposes the insecure environment of the school where such a ghastly act has gone unnoticed for this long a period.
The onus for the safety and security of children while they are at the school campus lies solely on the school. The student rightfully deserves to study in an environment which is not only secure, but is also free from traumas of physical and emotional abuse or harassment.
There have been several cases in the recent past where students have been targets of sexual harassment. The same south Kolkata school was at the center of another controversy in 2014 when a six-year-old girl was molested on her way to the washroom by a bus driver and his helper. In December 2017 two teachers of another private school in south Kolkata were arrested for sexually assaulting a four-year-old. In this case, physical education teachers lured the girl into the toilet by offering her chocolates and then sexually assaulted her. Another such incident happened two months back at the GD Birla School where two teachers were arrested for trying to rape a 4-year-old child.
Goa, too, has been a witness to a sexual assault on a 7-year-old girl in a school toilet at Vasco on January 14, 2013. Despite a sketch of the culprit, a crime branch probe, a CBI investigation and a couple of arrests, the victim could not be traced due to lack of evidence.
In majority of such sexual harassment cases, immediate questions have been raised over surveillance systems in the form of closed circuit TVs. The fact remains that cameras have their own limitations and cannot be seen as a fool-proof tool to arrest such cases. Many a times the CCTVs are found to be non-functional, as happened in this Kolkata incident, only to be attended much after questions have been raised. There is nobody keeping a round-the-clock vigil on the live footage to track down suspicious movement. In such a case, it is very unlikely that such atrocities could be trapped before being committed. Moreover, no institution or establishment can be permitted to install cameras inside washrooms and changing rooms which are likely places of such offences.
CCTV cameras should be installed at all vulnerable points with timely service checks to ensure they are functional at all times. Schools need to be stricter with rules and regulations. Verification of employees should include both teaching and non-teaching staff. Safety audits should be carried out from time to time and entry of outsiders should be under strict scrutiny. State governments may lay down safety guidelines, but there should be surprise inspections by the department to check if these are being enforced. Just listing out guidelines doesn’t mean that the students are secure.
Lastly, parents cannot be absolved of all responsibility. Parents are duty-bound to keep an eye and communicate with their children on a regular basis to get feedback on their schooling. A strong emotional parent-children connect is essential to understand what the ward is going through while being away from their watchful eyes.
