All on board to keep children safe

The framing of the child policy in the State of Tamil Nadu is seen as a step towards ensuring students get a fair chance at wholesome development and opportunities, without being troubled by any form of abuse. But it takes the entire community to keep a child safe, experts say

In November, the parents of a Class XII student in Coimbatore found her dead at home. With the help of her suicide note and other evidence, the parents registered a complaint with the police alleging that she had been sexually assaulted multiple times by a teacher at the school where she was studying. Protests soon followed demanding the teacher’s arrest and the incident left the city shocked by what had allegedly happened on the campus of a well-known school.

This case had an unfortunate ending, but was only one among several such cases involving allegations of sexual harassment of and misconduct against children that had emerged last year, both on and off campuses.

Hardly a week later, a Class XII student in Karur was found dead at her home and in a suicide note she alleged that she had been sexually harassed and was scared of saying anything more about the persons involved. A third such incident followed in December when notes left behind by a 17-year-old girl who died by suicide at Mangadu at her home alleged that she was sexually harassed by a teacher and a relative.