In a country struggling with issues of sexual abuse and inappropriate behavior towards the opposite sex, we need our schools to teach kids about respect and consent more than ever.
No one will deny that one of the major reasons why we are struggling with the issues of abuse is our society’s irrational thinking of not addressing these issues openly because ‘log kya kehengey?‘
Our society refrains the open discussion about the difficult issues in the name of traditions. And, this has stopped our ability to distinguish between the right and wrong behaviors towards the opposite sex.
This archaic thinking is one of the reasons behind the increased number of young kids being involved in sexual abuse crimes.
In today’s internet-connected world, where on a click of a button our kids are inadvertently exposed to highly sexualized, overtly harmful imagery and information, we need our kids to learn about these sensitive issues from the trusted sources.
Parents surely have the responsibility to teach their kids about the complex issue of sexual harassment.
But what about our schools?
Don’t they have any responsibility?
The schools play an important role in shaping the thought process of our kids. But from time to time. we have seen them either shying away from having an open discussion about sexual harassment or adopting weird ways of tackling it.
And, one such school in West Bengal’s Malda district, Girija Sundari Vidya Mandir, recently adopted the most absurd way to address the increasing complaints about sexual harassment.
After a series of sexual harassment complaints, a government-run school decided to address and solve the issue at hand. And, the genius solution was to ask girls and boys to attend school on different days!
What is saddening is the well-educated Principal feels that this is a best-fitting solution to the problem.
She mentioned that the school authorities find this solution fitting as, after its implementation, the operations have been going on smoothly. She further added,
“It was, hence, decided that the girl students will attend school on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while the boys will come on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays”
Though the state government officials stepped in and Education Minister Partha Chatterjee has ordered an inquiry, you can’t stop yourselves from being shocked!
As per the sources, Partha Chatterjee shared:
“Such a decision can never be supported. We have asked the officials to inquire into the matter and it should be immediately withdrawn”
Instead of avoiding the talk about sexual harassment, we hope all schools across the country would address these topics and encourage a healthy respect for the opposite sex among kids.
We parents, send our kids to school to educate them so that they turn out to be morally responsible members of our society.
But would they ever, if the schools shy away from addressing these important topics?
What’s the whole purpose of education and schooling if it doesn’t teach our kids the right social and moral values?
