MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the state government to file a status report on whether Student Safeguarding Advisory Committees have been constituted in all government schools in the state.
A bench of Justices J Nisha Banu and S Srimathy gave the direction on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed by Advocate G Shabna of Theni district.
According to Shabna, the state school education department passed a G.O. on June 17, 2021, introducing guidelines to protect students from sexual harassment. The guidelines had been issued in the wake of several allegations of sexual harassment, abuse and misconduct against faculty members of different schools in the state.
“However, the measures have largely remained on paper,” she alleged. One of the proactive measures mandated through the above G.O. included the formation of Student Safeguarding Advisory Committees in all schools.
The said committees should consist of the school principal, two teachers, two parents, a management representative, non-teaching staff, and optionally an external person. The principal should be a permanent member and half the committee members must be replaced annually, Shabna said.
In case of any sexual abuse against students in schools, the aforesaid committee of the school should immediately inform the same to the state level Central Complaint Centre (CCC) set up by the school education department, she added. However, these advisory committees are not being reconstituted regularly and are mostly non-functional, Shabna alleged.