The students demanded that schools and colleges should provide a safe environment for victims of sexual abuse to open up and also design a curriculum that includes sex education.
Coimbatore: Even as news of the suicide of a 17-year old school girl who had studied at Chinmaya Vidyalaya, a private higher secondary school in Coimbatore's R S Puram area due to sexual harassment sent shockwaves across the city and state, various organizations staged a protest in the city and petitioned the District Collector.
Though the school teacher K Mithun Chakravarthy has been arrested and jailed for sexually harassing the student, various organizations including the Womens associations and the Indian Students' Union staged a protest in front of the Coimbatore District Collector's office and in front of the girl's house demanding a serious inquiry into the shocking harassment of a minor girl by a school teacher and have demanded immediate action against the school administration.
More than 100 students protested and petitioned the District Collector at the District Collectorate on Monday stating that sexual problems against women continue unabated in Tamil Nadu. The petition stated that such cases of sexual harrasment in colleges and schools should be prevented. They demanded that students who have been sexually abused should have a safe and trustworthy environment to open up and that sex education should be integrated into primary education to put an end to sexual harassment against women.
They also demanded that the school curriculum should be designed in a manner that teaches gender equality and changes the mindsets of boys with regard to girls.