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Tanvir Ahmad Arjel

THE rape of a Class X student of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College by her teacher, Parimal Jaydhar, made headlines in the news media and internet and drew huge outcry from all the corners of the civil society. I would like to recollect some other recent incidents that happened at different educational institutions and were reported in the newspapers.

On July 3, Rafiqul Alam, an assistant teacher at Dildarpur High School in Moulovibazar, allegedly assaulted a female student of Class VI inside the classroom. On July 5, a student of Class IX of DM High School in Sylhet was allegedly sexually assaulted by computer teacher Bazlur Rahman at his coaching centre. On July 9, Jakir Hossain, a teacher of Nurani Hafizia Madrassah in Mirpur, Dhaka, reportedly abused a boy of Class I in his room. On July 21, Abul Kalam Azad, a 42-year old assistant teacher at Government Model Primary School in Sujanagar was accused of often sexually harassing three Class V students. On July 26, a college teacher was arrested on charge of attempted rape of a Class III student.

This proves that sexual harassment in educational institutions has taken an epidemic proportion and is prevailing everywhere in our society, undermining our social and moral strength. Enough is enough. It is time to trace the reasons behind the scene and uproot this sort of maladies from the society. We have to go back and scrutinise the history of Parimal Jaydhar to apprehend the scores of Parimals in our society.

Jaydhar is from the Gopalganj district. He qualified for the administration cadre in the 29th Bangladesh Civil Service examination after getting bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Bangabandhu University College at Tungipara in Gopalganj. He was also a member of Bangladesh Chatra league, the student wing of the ruling party, during his academic life, which he reportedly boasted of to his students. Before being appointed in Viqarunnisa School, he was sacked from the Rajuk Uttara Model School for sexually harassing a female student. In spite of this disgraceful background, the school managing committee appointed him, presumably for his political affiliations. Five more male teachers had been appointed to the Bashundhara branch of the school, violating the institutional practice of appointing one or two male teachers in each branch. All of them are from the Gopalganj district and have been involved with Bangladesh Chatra league and Workers Party as students.

Now we want take a look at Hosne Ara, the principal of the school, who allegedly defended the rapist teacher and tried her best to save him. It has been reported that Hosne Ara often claimed herself to be a friend of the prime minister, Sheik Hasina, since their school days. She was appointed the principal of Azimpur girl’s school in 1996 and of Viqarunnisa in 2010, following the sacking of Rukeya Akter through the prime minister’s intervention. According to some students of Viqarunnisa, Rukeya Akter didn’t even get her valediction. It is also reported that soon after her appointment, she attempted to change the school uniform to red and green after the colours of the national flag and rename the school after the mother of the current prime minister, but failed due to the strong reservations and protests from students, teachers and staff alike.

After the incident, Husna Ara have been accused of claiming that it was consensual and even that a few incidents of rape are  likely to take place in an institution as large as Viqarunnisa which has 18000 girls. We cannot imagine how a highly educated woman can make such obscene comments about her students who are supposed be like her daughters. Initially, the school authorities, led by Hosne Ara, attempted to disregard the allegation on the grounds that it had not taken place on the school premises, but at the coaching centre. Hosne Hra had even threatened to expel students who took part in protests. We have also came to know that a copy of the complaint made by the victim was forwarded to the chairmen of the governing body, Rashed Khan Menon, who is also the chairmen of the parliamentary standing committee on education. But he went to USA without taking any steps in this regard. A similar incident had occurred several months ago at Motijeel Ideal School and College, where the teacher was merely sacked due to the political intervention as per as I know. Rashed Khan Menon, as the member of parliament from the area, is also the chairman of the governing body at that school.

The saddest thing was the comment of the education minister, Nurul Islam Nahid, about the spontaneous students’ protest, saying ‘Evil forces were behind the protests at Viqarunnisa.’ He also remarked, ‘I don’t blame the students, vested quarters are instigating them.’ But a Viqarunnisa student at the rally said, ‘how could you, as education minister, not come to school? How could you not feel concerned or obliged to come and see the situation for yourself?’

It has clearly been proved that politicisation educational institutions and the teacher recruitment process are the prominent reasons behind this sort of heinous acts. Political interventions in these incidents increase the sense of impunity among the culprits. Our political leaders and representative are harbouring this type of scoundrels behind the curtain due to their trifling, rotten political interest. My question is, who will bring the culprits to book when our administration is covertly safeguarding them? This reminds me of a local proverb ‘beray khet khaile rokka korba ke (When the fence devours the crop, who will save it?) ‘

 Md Tanvir Ahmad Arjel

 University of Dhaka