Harassment: school body still clueless, child protection bureau moves police

LAHORE: After three days, a committee formed to dig out factual position vis-à-vis harassment cases at an elite school has remained clueless, it is learnt.

Sources in the School Education Department Punjab said in absence of any individual coming forward with a written complaint, the committee was unable to proceed further. They added the committee couldn’t rely on anonymous social media posts owing to which it was hard for the committee to work on the issue.

It is pertinent to mention here that Punjab School Education Minister Murad Raas had also said on Thursday that the Schools Department couldn’t take any action in absence of any written complaint about the harassment allegations. He had appealed to parents to come forward and assured confidentiality in the process so that action could be taken.

To a question as to why the committee didn’t ask the school to produce record pertaining to complaints students had submitted to the school in the past, a senior official, seeking anonymity, said the District Education Authority (DEA) or District Registering Authority (DRA) did not have the power as per their laws to seek years old record from the school and it didn’t have the authority to look into issues of the students who already graduated from the school. He said the government was introducing new legislation for private schools to take action against harassment and bullying cases.

It is pertinent to mention here that on June 30, the DRA/DEA Lahore had formed the 3-member team to dig out the factual position. Meanwhile, social media was abuzz with more alleged cases of harassment at many other educational institutions of the provincial metropolis and most of these took place some 5 to 6 years back.

Meanwhile, the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB) has filed an application at the Ghalib Market Police Station for registration of an FIR against harassment of girls in the school. Recently, the school has sacked four male teachers on charges of harassment. The SSP Investigations is investigating the case.