Amnesty: Ensure safe schools for girls

New Delhi, 28 March: The beating up and the death of a 15-year school girl in Delhi must draw our attention to the reality that many girls all over the country go to their school fearing for their safety, dreading humiliation and violent treatment. Every girl should have a right to education in a safe environment.

According to Amnesty International-India, there is no justification for official inaction and delays.

The Central and state governments, and by extension its public officials – including teachers and school authorities – must promptly investigate reports of abuse, impose appropriate punishments on offenders, help those who have suffered from violence to recover from its physical and emotional effects, and take steps to ensure that such abuses do not recur.

Mukul Sharma, Director of Amnesty International in India, demands that the government should enact and enforce clear law, policies and procedures to strictly prohibit all forms of violence against girls in school, including corporal punishment, verbal abuse, harassment, physical violence and emotional abuse.

National plan of action

"There should be a national plan of action to address school-related violence against girls. These should include guidelines for schools, compulsory training for teachers and students, designated government officials responsible and adequate public funding.

"The relevant bodies should develop and enforce code of conduct for all school staff and students. The school and education authorities should respond to incidents of violence against girl students in school through confidential and independent reporting mechanisms, timely and effective investigations and criminal prosecutions.

"We must ensure that all such incidents are reported and recorded, and that people convicted of rape, sexual assault or other criminal offences against girl children are not employed in schools," says Mukul Sharma, in a letter addressed today to Minister of Human Resources, Minister of Women and Child Development, Chief Minister and Education Minster, Government of Delhi, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and National Human Rights Commission.

Pervasive violence

On the eve of 8 March: International Women’s Day this year, Amnesty International in India has released its report ‘Safe Schools: Every Girl’s Right’ that draws on information researched by Amnesty International and by many other organisations working on this issue worldwide.

Amnesty International-India is conducting national and state-wide activities/campaigns among government officials and schools, parents, community leaders and non-governmental organisations, demanding that governments take immediate actions to fulfill their international and legal commitments and make schools safe for girl students.

Amnesty International India notes that violence in and around school is quite pervasive throughout the country. Many girls have come to accept teasing, bullying, sexually explicit jokes and gestures, excessive punishments, and even unwanted sexual activities as the price they have to pay for their education.

Victims of school-related violence report a range of emotional and behavioural impacts, including the inability to sleep, loss of appetite, depression, anxiety, feelings of hopelessness, negative feelings about themselves, aggression, suicide attempts, alcohol and drug abuse, and high-risk sexual activity. Depression is one of the most common consequences of physical violence against girls in the school.

Reports from around the country reveal a tendency to downplay, ignore and even conceal acts of violence committed against girls in relation to their schooling.

Governments and school authorities have failed to put in place any infrastructure and security measures to prevent violence. And, those guilty of violence are hardly punished – prosecutions are often not pursued and teachers and staff members do not necessarily lose their jobs.

The first Millennium Development Goals, equal numbers of girls in school in school as boys by 2005 has already been missed by India. Amnesty International India believes that to achieve gender equality (goal 3) requires increased commitment and an immediate effort to stop violence against schoolgirls.

Under several international treaties and conventions, like International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention against Discrimination in Education, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Indian government is legally bound to act on this issue.