Cell to Fight Sexual Harassment: 10 yrs on, 60pc schools yet to act on HC order

An estimated 60 percent of the country’s schools and colleges are yet to form sexual harassment complaint committees despite a 10-year-old High Court directive and government orders issued to prevent such offences on campus.

Around 40 percent of the universities, both public and private, have not complied with the directive either, said officials.

In absence of the committees, incidents of sexual harassment at many schools, colleges, madrasas and universities remain mostly unreported, they added.

Academics and rights activists say when incidents of sexual harassment at the educational institutions are still rampant, majority of the students are unaware that the authorities have a legal obligation to form the committees.

They allege that most of the existing complaint committees at the institutions remain non-functional and authorities hardly take any effective measures against sexual harassment at the seats of learning.

“The authorities of educational institutions do not keep the sexual harassment issue on their priority list. They take the issue lightly,” said Mahtabul Hakim, programme analyst of UN Women Bangladesh.

“They think if such complaints become public, it will be a matter of shame for the victim as well as the institution,” he told The Daily Star recently.

The HC in May 2009 ordered forming a committee at every educational institution and workplace to deal with complaints of sexual harassments, conduct investigations and make recommendations.

An education ministry circular on April 22, 2010 asked all educational institutions to form such committees within three weeks. But it got a lukewarm response at the time.

The death of Nusrat Jahan Rafi, a student of Sonagazi Islamia Senior Fazil Madrasa, prompted the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) to issue another directive on April 18 this year to set up anti-sexual harassment committees in line with the 2009 HC directive within a week.

A group of youths set Nusrat on fire on April 6 allegedly for refusing to withdraw a sexual assault case against madrasa principal Siraj Ud Doula in late March. The incident triggered a widespread public outcry.

The DSHE also asked the authorities to inform it about the committees and upload names of committee members on their own websites.

“So far, what we have found is some 40 percent schools and colleges have sexual harassment complaint committees,” a top official of DSHE told The Daily Star.

There are about 30,000 school, college and madrasas in the country.

“We will need some time to say exactly how many educational authorities have formed committees as the authorities are still sending reports to us,” said Prof Shahedul Khabir Chowdhury, director (administration) of DSHE.

DSHE Director General Professor Syed Md Golam Faruk thinks not all the educational institutions have felt the necessity to form such committees due to a lack of awareness.

“We will send a letter to all educational institutions after Eid-ul-Fitr regarding the matter. We will also increase monitoring of the institutions,” he added.

The situation at the universities is also not pleasing.

Some 35 public universities and 53 private universities have sexual harassment complaint committees, said Mauli Azad, deputy secretary of University Grants Commission.

There are 45 public and 103 private universities in the country.

According to UN Women Bangladesh’s 2013 situational analysis in eight universities, 76 percent of female students had faced incidents of sexual harassment by campus-related people like students, teachers and management staff.

“The overall situation at universities has not improved that much now,” said Mahbatul Hakim recently.

A study of ActionAid Bangladesh on 30 students of several universities in January 2019 also found that 84 percent of them were not aware about a sexual harassment committee in their university.

Taslima Yasmin, researcher of the study, thinks a lack of will and awareness are the reasons behind nonchalance of the authorities to form the committee.

Advocate Wahida Idris Iqbal, director of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association, said the government should play an active role in forming the committees and monitoring their activities.

On May 6, the High Court expressed dissatisfaction over the failure to implement the 2009 directive.

Bangladesh is much ahead of many other countries in terms of women empowerment, but negligence in constituting the committees at the educational institutions and workplaces is disappointing, the HC said.

Following another writ petition, the HC on May 14, 2009 issued a set of guidelines defining sexual misdemeanours to prevent any kind of physical, mental or sexual harassment of women, girls and children at workplaces, educational institutions and other public places, including roads, across the country.

The HC directed the government to make a law on the basis of the guidelines, and ruled that the guidelines would be “treated as law” until the law was made.

The court directed the authorities concerned to form a five-member harassment complaint committee, headed by a woman, at every workplace and institution to investigate allegations of harassment of women. Majority of the committee members must be women, it ruled.