Make schools safe for children

The Papum Pare district police have arrested three persons on the charge of rape and molestation. What is deeply worrisome is that one of the arrested persons is a teacher of the government higher secondary school in Kimin. The teacher has been accused of molesting several students over the years. The matter came to light when some of the students informed members of the Arunachal Pradesh State Commission for Protection of Child Rights during a poshan abhiyan programme on 12 September about the sexual abuse going on in the government higher secondary school (GHSS) in Kimin.

The Papum Pare police have acted swiftly and arrested all three persons involved in the rape and molestation. Now the police need to prepare a strong case to make sure that the accused are punished for their heinous crime. Increasingly, schools are becoming unsafe for girl children. Just recently, a girl was brutally raped by her own teacher in East Siang. Over the last one decade, many such incidents of rape and molestation are increasingly being reported from various parts of the state. This is deeply worrying and it needs to stop. The state government should come out with a comprehensive policy to improve security in schools. Just issuing condemnation will not solve the problem. Civil society bodies, parents, district administrations, etc, will have to all come together and make our schools safe for the children.