The students said that they were being sexually harassed and physically tortured by staffers of the centre for the past four months.
“An upper division clerk, Abdul Waheed, and cook Muhammad Aslam were forcing the students to give them ‘immoral company’. If the students refused, they were physically tortured,” said Bilal Imtisal*, a student at the centre.
There are 25 visually impaired students currently residing at the Training Centre’s hostel, which is run by the administration of the National Training Centre for Special Persons. The hostel was recently opened, for blind people, who come there from far flung areas to acquire education and vocational training.
The Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education is funding an annual allocation of Rs15 million annually.
Another student, Amjad Nazir* corroborated the claims made earlier and said, “Aslam always teases the boys and even sexually harasses them, while Waheed, forces them to do wrong things.
The students claim that they are not provided basic facilities. “Often we are given a certain time limit in which they ask us to eat as much as we can, with no food offered for the rest of the day,” they said.
“We are asked to keep our mouth shut and never complain, no matter how bad the situation gets,” said another student.
“Students send Rs5000 per month despite the allocation of Rs15 million to this special centre,” one of the teachers, Sharif Dogar* told The Express Tribune. “More than 12 students have already left the hostel due to the prevailing circumstances,” he added.
Meanwhile, Abdul Manan Darwish, principal of the institute, when contacted denied allegations of sexual harassments. “These are baseless,” he said. However, he avoided commenting on the question corporal punishment.
Deputy Director Social Welfare Taj Wali Khan said that the centre had a good reputation and was operating smoothly for the last two years. “But recently there were reported disturbances cause by teachers visiting the hostels,” he added.`
“Still, it is a very serious matter and should be investigated,” said Khan. He urged the ministry of social welfare and special education to take up the issue on urgent basis.
Director Administration at Directorate of Special Education, Shabbir Nawaz said that a teacher had instigated the students against the staff. “There is a teacher who is creating problems because the administration had asked him to vacate his room because of the lack of space at the hostel.”
“He is urging students to lodge complaints against the staffers. We will conduct an inquiry and anyone found guilty with be dealt with an iron hand,” he said.
*NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO PROTECT THE IDENTITY OF THE PEOPLE.
Published in the Express Tribune, June 12th, 2010.
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