TIRUCHY: The headmistress and a teacher of a Panchayat Union Middle School, Kurinjikulam in Ariyalur district were suspended following sexual harassment charges against them, on Monday.
Sources said that K Udhayakumar, a teacher of the middle school, allegedly sexually tortured girl students studying in Classes VI to VIII for the past two months.
Unable to bear the torture, the girls complained to headmistress Shanthi about the behaviour of Udhayakumar. But, the HM did not initiate any action on the teacher.
Parents of the students also approached the headmistress demanding action against Udhayakumar, but in vain.
Irked by the inaction of Shanthi, parents besieged the school on Monday and demanded the school education department to take action against the teacher and the headmistress. The parents also informed the Assistant Elementary Education Officer, Elangovan, that they would not send their children to school until they initiate action on the teacher and the headmistress.
To prevent the escalation of the situation, Elangovan, along with Tahsildar Ravi, visited the school and conducted an inquiry with the students, staff and the parents. Following this, they recommended the District Elementary Education Officer (DEEO) to take departmental action on them.
On receiving the inquiry report, R Sugumaran, DEEO suspended Udhayakumar and Shanthi. “The prima facie of the report confirmed that the girl students had suffered sexual torture at the hands of Udhayakumar and Shanthi failed to take action on him. Based on the submitted report, we suspended both of them and initiated departmental action against them”, Sugumaran told Express.