Christian girls schools to stop hiring male teachers

Kolkata: The Association of Christian Schools (AoCS) has recommended no further recruitment of male teachers for dance, music and physical training at the Christian Missionary Schools across the state.

The decision of the AoCS comes in the wake of complaints of girls being molested by male teachers at some leading institutions in the city including a reputed Christian Missionary school in south Kolkata this month..

The AoCS has also recommended that those male teachers who are presently working at the schools will carry out their work only in the presence of a female teacher.

It may be mentioned that none of the 750 odd Christian Missionary schools across the state have male teachers for other subjects, except in dance, music and physical training.

"We have reviewed the safety measures in the schools and have come into a consensus that girls' schools should not have male dance, music and PT teachers. We will soon issue a circular on this along with the recommendations that we hope will ensure better safety and security for the girl students.

It will be more like an advisory from the association and it is up to the managing committees of individual schools to decide whether they will implement these changes," said Father Moloy D'Costa, the general secretary of the AoCS.

A member of AoCS maintained that though the onus of implementation is on the schools but it is a rarity when such recommendations are turned down. "We have also recommended that all teachers in our school will now have to go through a compulsory police verification process and medical check-up," the AoCS member added.

The AoCS has also taken a significant decision regarding stipulation of reporting time at school. "Parents often send their children to school much before time. For security reasons, we have suggested that schools should instruct parents to drop their children at school not more than 30 minutes before classes start," a source said.

The other recommendations include comprehensive CCTV surveillance, identity cards for both student and escort and restrictions on entry of male staff engaged by contractors during school hours. Co-ed schools have been asked to take measures to ensure that no male employee comes near a girl student when she is alone.