KATHMANDU: News reports about sexual harassments that female students face at the hands of male teachers at educational institutions, including the University have made media headlines in recent times, writes Pabitra Guragain of RSS.
Several news reports exposed sexual harassments even by senior teachers of the university when women started opening their mouths and writing on social media against what they said ‘unpleasant experiences’.
To recall an instance, a female student briefly mentioned an incident about a 65-year-old renowned teacher involving in sexual harassments against female students while guiding during their thesis works.
The news on major dailies created a sort of discourse on social media, which brought mixed reactions from several quarters. However, several of the alleged perpetrators have rejected such claims outright arguing that the reports on newspapers and the repercussions on social media have been intended at defaming the teachers.
For instance, a teacher responded labelling the news report as ‘baseless and false’.
The Tribhuvan University, Gender Studies Program meanwhile said it is concerned about such reports since the department’s objective is to build a just society guaranteeing social justice and protection of rights of women, all genders and sexual minorities.
However, Tribhuvan University (TU) and its constituent colleges lack a mechanism to register, investigate complaints about sexual abuses as well as take action against wrongdoers.
The Tribhuvan University, Gender Studies Program organized a discussion program in a bid to raise the issue and to persuade the TU to develop such a mechanism where female students can register complaints and respond to the incidents of sexual harassment, among others.
TU Professor Dr Mira Mishra maintained that the TU was not an exception at a time when news of sexual harassment has been broadly reported. Stating that debates and arguments were flaring up on such issues, she said that women have become the victims of sexual harassment. According to her, # Me too has given a platform for women to speak out.
She said women should speak out collectively and boldly, which will help support one another.
She, however, said there are instances when men are falsely charged more than women because of their gender, and suggested that the TU, therefore, should take the issue seriously.
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