PANJIM: Following series of incidents reported about students being molested within the school and college campus, Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO), Goa on the occasion of Teachers Day, reached out to the teaching fraternity and urged them to protect the students from the predators within and outside the campuses.
Stating that just like a single rotten fruit can spoil the whole basket, SIO Goa President Usman Khan said, “It’s a few from within the teaching fraternity who are bringing shame to this noble profession. And therefore we request every teacher to please maintain the highest level of vigil in campuses and protect the young minds, the future of the country from these predators.”
SIO Goa strongly condemned the cases of sexual harassment being reported in the educational institutions of Goa. In the past few days, there has been spike in cases of alleged sexual harassment, molestation, outraging modesty, and harassment of students by teachers’right from school up to university level.
“A civilised society should never tolerate such instances at any level, let alone educational institutions. More shocking is the fact that some schools have tried to protect the accused teacher and have not reported the cases to the Education Department, despite knowing about the issue. SIO feels that the Education Department in general has been slow and reluctant to react to such grave offences. We demand the Department to act swiftly and strictly against the accused by following the due procedure of law,” Khan said.
He said that the institutions trying to protect their teachers should face strict action adding that one such incident has also been reported in Goa University.
The SIO president further said, “The state’s top higher education institution should set an example by strictly dealing with such cases and ensuring that no individual linked with an educational institution ever tries to attempt such an act. SIO feels that the fear of law in general has been fast eroding from the hearts and minds of people.”
SIO demanded a safe campus environment for the students of Goa and opined that the authorities should make all necessary arrangements like cameras, initiation of strict actions against the culprit, suspension or termination from service, setting up neutral and effective grievance redressal cells for students, so on and so forth, to ensure that students feel safe in their classrooms and around their teachers.
