Tamil Nadu Issues Guidelines To Prevent Sexual Harassment During Online Classes

Sexual Harassment Prevention Guidelines: After cases of sexual harassment were filed against the faculty members of a couple of schools in the state of Tamil Nadu, the state government has issued guidelines for the prevention of such acts on Monday.

These rules for the prevention of sexual harassment would be applicable across all the states for online classes. Online classes, which are proving to be the new normal are also asking for set guidelines to prevent unlawful activities. Hence, the guidelines have been reportedly set in order to prevent these activities in online classes.

According to the guidelines, a committee would be formed for safeguarding the best interests of the students. This committee will include two teachers, a management representative, the principal and the non-teaching staff. A parent-teacher body member will also be mandatorily included while it is optional to have an external person in the committee.

This committee will continuously monitor the issues that arise and also supervise them. Safety boxes would be placed on the premises of the schools and the responses would be monitored by the committee. Similarly, oral complaints would also be documented in a separate register by the committee. On the arrival of a complaint, the committee has to inform the state-cell too.

The multidisciplinary team will also be trained at the nodal centre for attending to callers who have complaints or queries. these calls would be recorded but would be kept confidential. It is also mandatory for the schools to acquire a comprehensive understanding of the provisions of the POCSO Act.

Further guidelines also state that both the faculty and the students should be appropriately dressed for the online lectures. All the online classes will be recorded and randomly audited from time to time.

The guidelines also stated that all schools should observe the ‘Child Abuse Prevention Week’ from November 15 to November 22 annually through an awareness programme.