Tamil Nadu released guidelines for protecting school students from sexual abuse

The School Education Department of Tamil Nadu released detailed guidelines for schools to follow for student safety and protection from sexual violence. The initiative comes after multiple allegations of school teachers abusing students surfaced recently.

Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2021

The department has directed schools to constitute a student safeguarding advisory committee (SAC), which will continually review, monitor, and recommend measures at the institutional level on all aspects of student safety.

The SAC should comprise the principal, two teachers, two PTA members, a management representative, a non-teaching staff member, and an optional external member.

The guidelines have been issued in the wake of several allegations of sexual harassment, abuse and misconduct surfaced on social media against faculty in many city schools.

A State-level Central Complaint Centre (CCC) with a hotline facility will be set up, as well as a dedicated e-mail address to receive school-based complaints of sexual abuse against students.

The purpose of the CCC is to offer an alternative complaint mechanism and provide appropriate guidance on the protocol to be observed so that all complaints are addressed.