KOZHIKODE: The fight between two teachers of Pantheerankavu Higher Secondary School has taken an ugly turn with one of them using five of his girl students to launch a sexual harassment complaint against the other. The issue propped up after the parents-teachers association (PTA) president complained to the Kerala State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (KeSCPCR) against the ‘egotist’ teachers who use students as tools to settle scores.
On Wednesday, the KeSCPCR directed the public education director and deputy director of education, Kozhikode, to take immediate disciplinary action against the teacher of the school and the officials who supported him in the crime and to submit a report on the action taken against them within a month. The commission also found that the teachers were using the class hours for other non-curricular activities and had failed to make arrangements for the classes they missed. PTA president P. Gangadharan alleged that the school, that had nearly 3,000 students, has now fewer than 600 students.
This fall was caused by some teachers with vested interests, he said. “It is a serious situation where the teachers are exploiting their students for their vested interests and making them sign fake complaints, stating that they were sexually abused. These teachers are also not fulfilling their duties by not covering the portions and attending to other functions and taking the benefit of ‘on duty,” said KeSCPCR member K. Naseer.
On August 15, a complaint signed by three boys and two girls of class 10 was received by the management saying that some of the teachers were sexually harassing the students and that more students would come forward to sign the complaint. The management forwarded it to principal Ajitha V.G. However, the school found that one of the teachers, Madhu Anand, had been using the students to take on the other teachers, with whom he allegedly had financial issues.
According to the statement by the school authorities, Mr Anand had also attended an education programme and availed of attendance certificate from the DDE for eight days and marked on duty. Nallalam police who conducted a probe into the complaint found that it was fake which was aimed at defaming the other teachers.
