Complaint box installed in Krishnagiri school to prevent sexual abuse

A complaint box to deal with complaints of sexual harassment and abuse in schools has been set up at the Government Girls Higher Secondary School here.

The complaint box carry critical messages on child safety, good and bad touch, boundaries of interaction, and how an abuse is no child’s fault.  In addition, information on the toll free number 14417 as counseling helpline for students to reach out with complaints of abuse was also put up at the school.  The toll free number – 14417 is a 24 hour helpline for students to reach out with complaints of any form of abuse not just in schools but elsewhere as well. 

The complaint box in each school is part of the intervention announced by the School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi to deal with increasing instances of sexual abuse of students and the bid by schools to scuttle complaints by survivor-victims in the name of protecting the ’reputation of schools’.

The government had proposed to set up a protocol for schools that entailed monitoring by school management committees and strict guidelines to schools on immediate response to complaints of sexual abuse. 

There are over 3,82,805 students studying in 2,053 government and private schools in the district. Each school shall have a complaint box.. The complaint box will offer a “ring of safety’ to the student and provide the necessary support and intervention, according to the school education officials here.