ROURKELA: The death of a Class X girl who ended her life after allegedly being sexually assaulted by the headmaster on Friday is nothing less than tragic but the incident could just be the tip of the iceberg with sporadic cases being reported from all over the state while many going unreported.
Only after the Friday incident, in which the 16-year-old jumped to death from the two-storey hostel building of Patuadihi Panchayat High School, in Lefripada block, after allegedly being sexually abused by the headmaster, some students gathered the courage to open up about the abusive behaviour of the accused headmaster Shyam Sundar Patel (54).
However, this is not an isolated case. In the past year, two school headmasters were booked in separate cases for sexually abusing girl students in Kuanrmunda and Rajgangpur blocks. In six to eight years, three government school teachers in Lefripada, Bargaon and Lahunipada blocks in the district were forwarded to court over similar charges.
Sundargarh district has 514 hostels of the SC & ST department and 69 hostels of the School & Mass Education department, with 48,906 students. Of these, 50 percent are girls aged six to 16 years. This apart, there are two Anwesha hostels apart from over two dozen hostels of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas, Eklavya Residential Model Schools and Odisha Adarsha Vidyalayas.
Majority of the students in these schools come from rural and poor socio-economic backgrounds. Locals have alleged that had there been strict and prompt action in the past, the incidents of sexual abuse would not have risen as much. But such cases continue to occur and many go unreported with the traumatised victims not able to speak up. There should be a system of counselling where the victims can speak up in a friendly and fearless atmosphere with counsellors if not parents, they said.
District Project Officer for Life Skill Education under the ST & SC department Munmun Mohapatra said rigorous counselling programmes covering safety and security, health, hygiene and similar issues are being held for girl students. School authorities are also getting regularly educated on the relevant issues.
Meanwhile, Patel, the accused headmaster, was produced in court under sections 305 of IPC and 10 of POCSO Act.
Sundargarh SP Sagarika Nath said the investigation is underway and further sections may be added during the filing of the charge sheet based on finding.
How safe are schools, hostels?