Ugly serpent of sexual harassment in Rawalpindi schools stand exposed

Islamabad: The case of sexual harassment by the Head Master of a Government Primary School in Kotli Satyan is enough to shock anybody to the core of one’s being.

A poor labourer, approached the police in Kalar Syedan to lodge a complaint against none other but a teacher in charge of the school, for sexually harassing his daughter, 12 years of age and a student of 5th class.

“I saw my daughter not getting ready to go to school in the morning on April 26, 2018. When I asked her as to why she was not going to school she disclosed that the Head Master, had been making physical access on her for some time.

“On April 25 the Head Master called girl student to his office on the pretext of wanting to know if she had learned her lessons well. But instead he tried to make sexual advances to which she resisted and raised hue and cry,” the poor father wrote in his application to the police.

“My daughter also told me that the Head Master had made similar sexual advances on one of her friend and class fellow. Daughter of a poor person of the same village, I took up the matter with the father of the other victim girl, who also confirmed the similar incident happening with her daughter as well,” the poor father mentioned in his application.

Because of the alarm young girl raised the Head Master let her go but she was too terrified to return to school the next day. In fact she says she never wants to go to school anymore. It is now known since how long the Head Master was sexually harassing the girls but apparently the incident that happened on April 25 proved to be the last straw that eventually shattered the young girl and she made up her mind never to go to school from then on.

Quite a few years ago a female teacher serving with a reputed private school confided on condition of anonymity regarding incidents of most deplorable cases of indulgence in sexual activities involving students and teachers. It was so shocking and hard to believe what the lady teacher disclosed and even harder to write and print those incidents in the newspaper columns.

However, now it seems that had the media raised alarm over the issue at that time, awareness could have been spread around and the situation could have been improved with effective preventive steps put in place and both teachers and students being educated not to fall to such attempts, mostly based on blackmailing or other luring tactics including use of drugs.

According to the copy of the complaint this scribe has received, the matter was reported to the Kalar Syedan Police Station on 26th April 2018. However, the police have registered an FIR (First Information Report) and initiated investigations into the matter. And if in affirmative, at which stage the investigations have reached in this matter of extreme sensitivity which is going to haunt the parents of young school/college going girls.