Sexual abuse: Schoolteacher charged with harassing student

The accused relocated to another school; inquiry launched.

HARIPUR:

A primary school teacher was accused of sexually harassing a minor student and an inquiry has been launched against him, sources said on Monday. He was transferred to another school following the incident.

The official quoted the victim’s father as saying that his daughter, Sabina*, a fourth grader at Government Primary English Medium School No 4 Mohalla Khu, stopped attending school two weeks back. When he asked her for an explanation, she told him that her class teacher Atif* had been sexually harassing her.

When the complainant went to lodge a complaint with the school headmaster, he tried to hush up the matter.



The complainant then approached the deputy commissioner (DC) and the provincial director (education), who ordered inquiry against the teacher. “Following orders from the DC and the minister, we have launched a two-member committee to investigate the case,” Deputy District Officer (Education) Faqir Shah, told The Express Tribune.

He further said that the accused teacher has been transferred to Government Primary School Alooli, adding that in case he is proven guilty, he could face termination from service.

To guard against such incidents in future, Shah said he has shifted all the 100 female students of the school to Government Girls Primary School No 4, from where 60 male students have been transferred to Government Primary English Medium School No 4.

He brushed aside the impression that the annual examination process which is due within a week time, would be affected.



When asked whether there was any plan of separating girls and boys from all the primary schools, he said there were several villages in the district where there was no girls school due to which his department was forced to keep co-education running in the government schools.

Tahir Masood, a human rights activist condemned the incident and demanded registration of a case against the accused teacher. He said the government must separate the girls in the schools offering co-education to avoid such situations. Moreover, he criticised the parent-teacher committees for their poor monitoring of schools.

*Names have been changed to protect identities

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th, 2013.