Sexual abuse in school, high time to relook at the programs

SEXUAL EXPLOITATION of girl students in a residential school at Badaambada village in Nabarangpur district has became an important issue and now such issues have been reported from several parts of Orissa, particularly in tribal areas. The headmaster of the school, Pradipta Sahu, a contractual teacher Iswar Bhatra and Padman Bhatra, the husband of the cook of the school and later on the male cook of the residential school, Raju Bhatra have been taken into custody by the police in relation to this case.

Several visits were made by different government officers, political parties and dignitaries that forced the government to take disciplinary action and ultimately few officials (Welfare Extension Officer and Block Development Officer) were sacked from the job.

Now all the responsible persons of the government departments, political parties, and Panchayat leaders visit different schools at regular intervals. I must thank the person who brought this incidence into notice. Here a simple question arises that why the political parties/leaders realised so late that they should visit such institutions and that too after the occurrence of such a shameless incident in one such school? If they would have done this earlier such cases might not have taken place in other schools. I would like to request them not to visit the school now at all as it simply proves they want to get some political mileage.

After this incident the State government declared that only women headmasters would be posted in residential schools for girls. The schools are asked to accommodate students double its capacity, without proper place to sleep, eat, and bathe. And on the other hand the teachers stay on the same campus with their own families.

The concerned authority of the state government needs to check the quality of the dress material supplied to the girl students.

Sex is a biological need and it is difficult for an unethical person to abstain himself from it. And the tribal way of life which is generally featured by early sex, early marriage and elopement makes it easier for the people to exploit the girls. Many may not accept this logic out of mere hypocrisy .

Sexual abuse can lead to corporal punishment. . While signing the CRC the Indian government had promised to look after the matters pertaining to child rights and protection. Designing plans and making laws never solve the problems at all..

I want to raise a question on the working of the district level Child Well being Committees, and why they were not treated as the group which did not perform its duty perfectly. Why only the Welfare and Block Development officer were identified for negligence of their duty, why not the collector, the Minister for Tribal Welfare and Education and above all the Chief Minister of the state that is another big question for me. One can say the degree of negligence may be at the bottom. But the other duty bearers have failed to perform their duty and there is no confusion on this. Yes, I must say the real culprits need to be punished severely, but more than that the Government should take this as a lesson and plan accordingly so that such incidents do not happen at all.