Education officials are not taking steps against teachers accused of sexual harassment despite having adequate evidence. Avoiding the issue of sexual harassment, punishment given for some other offence is a mere charade.
Evidence recently became available against a teacher from Oxford School in Narayanganj but no steps were taken.
He was served a notice asking why his salary and benefits would not be stopped.
Ministry sources say that assistant teacher of Oxford, Ashraful Islam, used to force students into providing sexual favours in exchange for high grades. Once facts about his depravity became public, RAB arrested the assistant teacher Arif and head teacher, Zulfiqer Rafiqul Islam, on Jun 27.
Allegedly Arif had raped around 20 students in his flat. The teacher confessed his misconduct and Narayanganj district administration secured evidence through a probe.
The institution involved does not have any accreditation or registration but has Education Institution Identification (IIN) only. After getting the report, DG of secondary and higher secondary education was asked to send a notice to stop the salary and benefits of the teacher.
School headmaster Zulfiqer Rafiqul Islam said that the accused teacher was sacked and refuted allegations of carrying out a trade in the name of education.
On Sept 25 last, Bangladesh Mahila Parishad held a protest rally demanding the removal of Saidur Rahman, head of the Bangla department of Commerce College in Mirpur, Dhaka. Reportedly, to appease the media and public, a probe committee was formed though no action was taken.
There is no monitoring to ensure that court directives are being followed to prevent sexual harassment.
Director of secondary and higher secondary education board, Dr Abdul Mannan, said: “We are trying to make institutions follow court orders; monitoring has already begun. Those not following orders will face the highest punishment; if necessary, MPO will be stopped and recommendations made for the revocation of academic accreditation.”