BENGALURU: With several cases of teachers and lecturers harassing students coming to light recently, concerns have been raised over the safety of students, especially girls. Many students have also been pushed to the extreme of dying by suicide.
Thousands of students face physical or mental harassment, but only a few come forward and complain with the majority choosing to keep quiet, fearing stigma. Vimala KS, a women rights activist, said, “Every school provides gender sensitivity and sex education, but the government should implement the rules strictly. If there is a case of sexual harassment in any educational institution, the state and central governments should take responsibility. Especially in private institutions, such cases get settled unofficially, as their reputation would be at stake. The government and courts should take such cases seriously and hand out stringent punishment.”
TD Kemparaju, a former vice-chancellor of Bengaluru North University, said awareness and counselling can help prevent such incidents. “While parents and students should be encouraged to report any untoward incident to the management. There should be an effective counselling mechanism, where students feel safe to report and discuss any case of harassment by the teaching or non-teaching staff. Educational institutions should collaborate with the police and NSS to raise awareness,” he said.
He also suggested that the government must not renew the affiliation for institutes that have reported repeated cases of sexual harassment. “The teachers’ mentality also plays a key role. The government must create a special portal for students to report harassment. Institutions should do robust background verification,” he said.
S Chandrashekar Shetty, president, Forum of Former Vice-Chancellors of Karnataka, opines that the government must make it mandatory for every institute to evaluate the intelligence quotient (IQ), emotional IQ, social IQ and moral IQ of their staff. Also, students should be counselled twice -- before and after each semester.
Race, caste, religion, colour, gender, financial status, language, ideology and other factors also lead to harassment of students. It is not a secret that many PhD guides select students based on their caste, while caste-based discrimination is also common in schools, colleges and universities, said an education expert, on condition of anonymity. He opined that the UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, may help to curb this.
Recent incidents
Nov 2025: Bharat Bhargava, a lecturer in Mysuru, held for sexual harassment
Jan 2026: Rajkumar Kumbar, a lecturer at Govt PU College, Afzalpur (Kalaburagi), arrested for luring student with a gift on New Year
March 2026: Abdul Rehaman Sharif, a professor, arrested for proposing to his student in the classroom, in Nelamangala, Bengaluru
April 2026: A 17-year-old PU student ended her life after her lecturer allegedly insulted her in Doddaballapur
April 2026: Govt school teacher HO Rajanna booked for allegedly raping 10th standard girl in Chitradurga