ANGRY guardians and relatives of students of Mohammadpur Preparatory and Higher Secondary School laid siege on the school campus early this week forcing the management to send the vice-principal on retirement and replace all male staff by female ones in the wake of molestation case of a Class one minor girl. It is really alarming that a canteen boy, Gopal by name, sexually assaulted the minor girl at knifepoint in an under-construction annexure building. And more unacceptable is the fact that the school management tried to ignore the crime allowing the predator to go on leave. Almost all national dailies including The New Nation reported on the incident.
What agitated the guardians is why the school management wanted to cover up the crime. Instead they helped the culprit by allowing time to run out of the country. Moreover, the vice- principal’s derogatory comments on protest and the principal’s acquiescence to bury the matter showed they were abating the crime ignoring their responsibility to give safety to the students. Reports said they covered up another sexual assault several months ago. Needless to say, their apathy led the guardians to unite and force changes in the school management. They showed that there is no alternative for guardians to work as organized watch for the safety of their children at a time when most teachers have lost moral values and running schools as business rather to build the future of their students, ignoring standard rules for academic institutions.
Mohammadpur Preparatory and Higher Secondary School has been put on early summer vacation so that calm may return on the school premises and students can overcome the trauma that they suffered in the process. A three-member committee has also been set up to investigate into the crime and recommend other changes to restore full academic environment to the school. The management has also agreed to set up CCTV camera in the school premises to keep watch on students’ safety. These are welcome steps.
This incident reminds us of the Viqarunnisa Noon School’s rape incident several years ago where a school teacher, Porimol by name, had often sexually assaulted an adult student taking advantage of coaching classes. And like the Mohammadpur School case, the Viqarunnisa Noon School management also tried to hide the crime fearing that such news would harm the school’s reputation and demoralize students and guardians. But by trying to hide their management failure, they rather turned the situation more volatile forcing the guardians to take to the streets and the principal to retire. Similar sexual assaults are also occasionally reported from other schools, although most management go for cover up to save the schools from business fallouts.
It is advisable that sexual crimes at academic institutions must be sternly dealt with. Not only responsible persons be removed and punished, the management board must be equally held responsible. People must know that the psychological trauma that young girls would suffer may hunt them for life.
