Sexual assault: Female teachers demand action against male colleague

Female teachers of a school in Nawagaththegama lodged a complaint with the Puttalam Zonal Education Office yesterday (13) requesting that action be taken against a male teacher at the same school who allegedly sexually assaulted a female teacher there. 

The attack had allegedly taken place inside the school's teachers' hostel  on November 1. The victim and the alleged perpetrator had been teaching separate after-school classes at the school that evening. The victim had gone to the teachers' hostel after concluding her class when the male teacher had allegedly burst into her room, locked the door, forced her mouth shut and sexually assaulted her. 

The victim, who had been left terrified and traumatised by the event, had complained to the school's principal about the attack the following day. However, the female teachers charge that instead of launching an inquiry, he had tried extremely hard to resolve the dispute amicably. He had even tried to settle the issue by getting the alleged perpetrator to kneel down before the victim and apologize, they claim.  

The female teachers and the victim's family charge that the principal and some others had been trying hard to bury the incident and when that failed, had tried to convey to the Zonal Director of Education that the victim was of "low moral character.". 

After the victim, her family and the school's female teachers held a meeting yesterday with the Puttalam Zonal Director of Education and the Nawagaththegama Divisional Education Director, it was decided to give the victim a transfer to a school in Anamaduwa while it was decided to remove the alleged perpetrator from the school and transfer him to a school in Nawagaththegama pending the conclusion of an inquiry. 

When contacted, Puttalam Zonal Education Director W.P.S.K. Wijesinghe said an inquiry has been launched into the incident and he could not comment further. 

By Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe in Puttalam 

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