WHAT is as deplorable as the sexual assault and the attempted rape on a minor at a higher secondary school recently is the way the school authorities have handled the matter. It is appalling that they should attempt to shield the perpetrator when they should have been finding out the culprit and punishing him for his abhorrent behaviour.  

We wonder why it would need the remonstration of the parents to start an enquiry. And this when the person responsible for the security and discipline in the school happened to be a woman. Apparently, the rector has not been doing her job with due diligence because, reportedly, this is not the only incident to have occurred in the recent past, and no action was taken in that case either. 

There must be something wrong with that school system when the culprit whom many students saw in the act of assaulting the child had not been identified by the authorities even after a week. And we demand strong action against the school authority for reportedly threatening students with dire consequences if they divulged the story to others.

Such despicable acts by male teachers and staff have also happened in the past in other schools too. Regrettably, no action has been taken against those culprits that we know of. We demand that not only the culprit in this case be identified and given the most exemplary punishment, those that have tried to shield him and underplay the issue also be taken to task.