CHENNAI: In a bid to enhance protection for women students, the Higher Education Department has issued additional protocols, which would be implemented immediately in all the Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) to mitigate sexual offences against students in colleges.
A senior official from the Higher Education Department, seeking anonymity, told DT Next that the deputy secretary of his department has written a letter to the Commissioner of Collegiate Education, the Commissioner of Technical Education and the Registrars of all Universities under the aegis of Higher Education Department to instruct the HEIs in this regard.
Accordingly, the HEIs could train women teachers to identify vulnerable students. “These vulnerable youngsters may be subjected to physical and emotional abuse from their families. Students with a single parent, and under the care of their guardian, or who are residing in child care institutions are more vulnerable to these kinds of abuse,” quoting the letter the official said.
In addition, the HEIs administration will conduct an audit on the maintenance of the toilets. “Only women staff should be appointed to clean girls toilets. Non-teaching staff may be deputed for surveillance in the shadow areas and the overall supervision could be done by the principal of the HEIs',” it said.
Stating that all practical laboratories and libraries should have a mandatory women staff at all times, the letter said that in case of any woman teacher being absent another woman staff should be deputed as an alternative and co-education HEIs should have at least 50 per cent women staff.
As special classes are often conducted with less number of students and during non-college hours, strict monitoring should be mandated and a women staff should be deputed.
As a form of self-defence, students should be sensitised about "No; Go; Tell" (No – teaching the students to tell NO if they feel unsafe, GO – they should be taught to run away from that place at the earliest, Tell – in other words, it can also be taught as YELL (shout, tell someone you trust about the incident or shout immediately).
Welcoming the Higher Education Department’s move, PB Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary of the State Platform for Common School System-TN, said the teachers who will play the main role in preventing sexual offences, should not consider it as a burden.