Are children in Calcutta schools safe? Very safe, says a rising tide of voices. Says Seema Sapru, principal, Heritage High School: 'All our school buses have a female attendant till the last girl gets dropped. We take the ward back to school if the person cannot produce an ID card to collect the student from the bus. Their guardians are informed of every little change, be it a holiday or the bus arriving late, through text messages. Utmost care is taken to ensure that our staff comes from a proper background.'
Indranath Guha, founder of Garden High School, echoes the point. 'We never allow outsiders beyond the school gates and have covered every square foot of campus with CCTVs.' And Richard Gasper, principal, St Augustine's Day School, Ripon Street, has an innovative approach to scare away sexual predators. 'I am active on Facebook and have a secret group where students complain and share things with me. The teachers and other staff are aware of this and they remain on their toes.'
Even so, if you think you need not fret about your child, think again.
Last year, it was discovered that a watchman in an upscale Calcutta school regularly performed anal sex on a six-year-old boy, the son of a businessman. 'The school sacked the agency that provided the security guards. The matter was also reported to the police, but everything was hushed up to protect the victim and the family,' Avirup Mitra, owner of a private detective agency, says.
The case reached Mitra's table in early December 2013, and the culprit was caught red-handed within 16 days. 'The family came to me for investigation when the traumatised child confided in his uncle. The case against the watchman is going on in the courts,' Mitra adds.
S.R. Banerjee, a member of the Private Investigator Association of America and who runs a detective agency in the city, says such incidents are definitely on the rise. Often, parents don't go to the police because of the social stigma attached to sexual abuse.
Educationist Malini Bhagat, former principal of a premier girls' school in South Calcutta, stresses that there is always the possibility of danger. 'The rosy picture that most school authorities paint appears to me like the judges awarding perfect 10s to reality show participants. Most cases of molestation take place inside the toilets and the activity rooms that are not in vantage points. There should always be strict vigilance in these places.'
So what can parents do to protect their children?
According to private detective agencies, they should bring pressure on school authorities to follow some basic guidelines.
For one, CCTV cameras have to be installed in schools — and used properly. 'Often school authorities don't take care to man the monitors and think their job is done by simply installing the cameras. Constant monitoring and periodic reviews of the tapes are a must. Some cameras get out of order and nobody takes care to fix them,' says Sanjay Singh, managing director of a Delhi-based detective agency.
Banerjee adds that schools must maintain an updated record of all their Group D staff, who are often hired from agencies. 'Verification of their backgrounds is a must, along with a check on their current address,' Singh says.
Ensuring a safe journey to school is equally important. 'Transportation to schools should be made absolutely safe because most cases of abuse take place there. Parents should demand the mobile numbers, address and driving licence of the person who drives the pool car or bus. The schools cannot shy away from taking responsibility when it comes to the school buses,' says Pallab Kanti Ghosh, joint commissioner of police (crime), Calcutta Police.
Most important, parents, no matter how busy they are, should always make it a point to talk to their children and instil awareness in them. 'Every day for an hour after my daughter returns from school, I talk to her about what happened in school. I tell her subtly every day that she must not go to any isolated corner of her school alone or with a friend,' says Jolly Sarder, mother of Bhabna Sarder, a Class VI student of Delhi Public School, Ruby Park.
So does the mother of Sunandana Choudhury of Modern High School, who has cautioned the Class II student about entering the toilet if someone is there.
If parents get to know of a suspected case of abuse, they must immediately lodge a complaint with the police without any fear of social stigma. 'The sooner we get the complaints the easier it is for us to nab the criminal,' joint commissioner Ghosh says.
Finally, keep an eye on your child for symptoms of having been abused. The signs of trouble are depression, a reluctance to talk or eat, and having problems in urinating or defecating. 'We have a very strong law called the Pocso Act and parents should be aware of the provisions. Sexual offences shouldn't be ignored and life skill education must be imparted from a very tender age,' says Monidipa Ghosh, assistant director, CINI Urban Unit, which runs Childline 1098, Calcutta.
What parents should do
Talk to the child regularly
Teach them the difference between 'good' and 'bad' touch
Teach them not to accept gifts from strangers
Tell them to avoid empty classrooms and toilets
Stay vigilant about safety in transport to school
