Are we doing enough to make education safe for girls?

When the idea of ​​a routine is established in a child’s life, it almost turns into a mental checklist and usually sticks into adulthood (a mantra of sorts) – a check box to be checked off before you walk through the door. In our days as schoolgirls, the checklist included making sure we have all our books, packing our lunch, carrying our ID cards and not staying in an empty classroom or in the presence of a male teacher or staff alone in a room. What seems like an innocent ritual actually serves as a harsh reminder that girls are not safe anywhere, not even in their educational institutions.

According to a survey conducted by Plan International in 2022, 74 percent of a total of 2,232 female participants between the ages of 10 and 24 reported incidents of violence and harassment at educational institutions. Children in Khulna division reportedly face the highest cases of violence and harassment (89.7 percent), followed by Barishal (80 percent) and Rajshahi, which follow closely at 78.8 percent, the survey said.

While the statistics may seem striking, it should be remembered that these are just some of the reported cases. The actual number of cases that are deliberately swept under the carpet or hidden, driven by fear of social exclusion or intimidation, may be even more drastic.

When it comes to identifying the perpetrators, teachers and staff members usually make up the bulk of the perpetrators. Earlier this month, an indigenous schoolgirl in Khagrachhari was sexually assaulted by her teacher, Abul Hasnat Muhammad Sohail Rana, who, according to news reports, was arrested in a case of attempted rape of a 10th grade student in February 2021. After his release, he went work again at the same school despite protests from other students. Moreover, an investigation by a Kushtia school in 2018 revealed that Rana had sexually harassed several students.

The Khagrachhari rape case mirrors the case of Nusrat Jahan Rafi, a madrasa student from Feni who was set on fire when she refused to withdraw a sexual assault case she had filed against her principal, Siraj Ud Doula. Another example occurred when two teachers of St. Scholastica’s Girls’ School and College in Patharghata area of ​​Chattogram city were charged with sexually abusing a fifth-grade schoolgirl for more than a year. Every time she tried to resist, they reprimanded her in class and threatened her with failing the exams.

It is important to note that not only were the perpetrators inherently responsible for the safety and well-being of the students, but that even after violating the terms of their duty, these people were once again placed in a position of power to be able to to continue their misdeeds and make other children suffer the same horrors.

Although a greater number of reported cases came from outside Dhaka, it would be wrong to conclude that this problem only occurs outside the capital. In February this year, Murad Hossain Sarkar, a head teacher of Viqarunnisa Noon School and Azimpur branch of the College in Dhaka, was sent to two-day remand in a case for allegedly sexually harassing a student.

This shows that children, most of whom are girls according to reported cases, have nowhere to go to school safely. The perpetrators are not only teachers or administrative staff, but also other trusted people (within or around the schools) and even other children themselves, which begs the question: who or what do we blame for this? And why do a large number of victims remain silent for days, months or (as the Sint-Scholastica case illustrates) even years?

While the perpetrators, especially the adults, are of course to blame, the culture surrounding young girls, the objectification they are subjected to, and the questions surrounding the validity of their autonomy in our society at large create the perfect recipe for this systemic discrimination. disaster. The above cases highlight the systemic problems prevalent within our education system. Even when students do speak out, they usually face more repercussions than the perpetrators themselves. In general, corporal punishment and blackmail are used in addition to threats as a means of intimidation. Girls may not even be aware that they are being abused, or fear that they will face consequences if they speak out.

This further contributes to the culture of silencing the victims as they do not have the facilities to obtain justice at the administrative level in their educational institutions. Often, the general reputation of certain teachers as good educators, or their popularity with other students, leads those around the victim to question their motivations and resort to virtue signaling in favor of the perpetrator. It can even go so far as to publicly humiliate the victim and assassinate his character in an attempt to rehabilitate the perpetrator’s image – leading to further vilification. And so the cycle of horror continues.

What certainly doesn’t help is that the Bangladesh parliament passed the Child Marriage Restraint Act in 2017, with a special provision that allows an underage boy or girl to get married in exceptional cases. This provision could well legitimize the marriage of a child who happens to be a rape survivor, with the rapist also falling within the scope of the “special provision.”

An estimated 60 percent of schools and colleges in the country are yet to set up sexual harassment complaint committees despite a Supreme Court directive issued a decade ago. Even at the very few institutions that have established such anti-sexual harassment cells, students are reportedly confused about where to file a complaint, and the cells existed only on paper. At this point, it’s impossible to wonder what it might cost an institution over the next decade to form a committee committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of their students.

Overall, limited opportunities to hold perpetrators accountable leave young girls in a situation where they typically have to continue their education in the presence of their abusers, or face serious consequences or stigmatization if they choose to to make their voices heard. The consequences of such violence are not only limited to the specific victims who experience the ordeal themselves, but rather impact the entire female demographic and their pursuit of education, which depends on the decisions made by parents, guardians or society as whole. As a result, girls are deprived of the opportunity to continue or even continue their education. Another survey by Plan International, conducted with the participation of 4,305 households, found that about 35.3 percent of parents think that fear of sexual harassment is a major factor leading parents to marry off their minor daughters, while 25.6 percent of parents allow their minor daughters to marry. for fear of social exclusion.

What can be done? What is certainly non-negotiable is the need for safe, impartial and inclusive committees to ensure confidential and secure reporting mechanisms in schools. Students should never feel unsafe or vilified if and when they choose to report cases of any form of sexual violence. Moreover, the members of a committee should have diverse backgrounds and be equipped to handle such matters even with the utmost sensitivity. The children also need to be made familiar with them, otherwise they may not trust them enough to report incidents. In the event that a member of the committee is himself guilty, contingent proceedings should be instituted.

In Bangladesh, the implementation of comprehensive sex education is severely limited given how the topic is viewed through a heavily stigmatized lens. Therefore, even though the implementation of comprehensive sex education in all schools is a distant idea, rudimentary knowledge about ‘good touch/bad touch’ and consent should be disseminated to students, administrators, staff and parental authorities.

When dealing with ‘women’s issues’, the main idea that almost always emerges is that women should have access to education, and that education is the only sustainable way for them to gain agency. However, the systemic barriers that hinder girls’ education remain deeply rooted in our society. Every year we are presented with statistics of women excelling in their board exams and reports on their achievements, which are portrayed as a direct result of all the said society’s efforts to empower girls, but are we as a society doing enough to remove this? what barriers have prevailed?

Syeda Afrin Tarannum is a sub-editor at Campus, Rising Stars and Star Youth.

Fatima Jahan Ena is a member of the editorial team of The Daily Star.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.

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