Action on sex abuse in universities
View(s):Following complaints from undergraduates, special teams will be deployed within State Universities to prevent alleged sexual abuse of undergraduates by the academic staff, Higher Education Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told the Education Times. Minister Rajapakshe said that a Lecturer from the Eastern University and another from the University of Jaffna have been interdicted, while a complaint against another lecturer in UoJ is under investigation.
He said most of the complaints were from the North and East, but there were complaints from other campuses as well. He said that the respective Vice Chancellors (VC) are supposed to look into these issues, but they too have not taken any action. He said that, if serious cases of sexual abuse are reported, they inform the police for necessary action, while complaints too will be looked into.
Mr Rajapakse said that a separate investigation is under way of the VC who failed to inform authorities about a complaint from a Sabaragamuwa University student who eventually committed suicide due to a ragging issue. “The VC’s should inform the authorities about such incidents, if not, we will pursue action against them,” he said.
He said there were instances where undergraduates dropped out of universities, while some of them had fallen ill. He said they would be setting up a hotline and create a new app to receive information. - Damith Wickremasekara