After a slew of sexual harassment complaints from students at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan (PSBB) school in Chennai, Chief Minister MK Stalin on Wednesday held a review meeting with officials and said that a set of guidelines will be rolled out to conduct online classes. As per a press note released by the government, it stated that guidelines are being prepared for the conduct of online classes.
The press note stated that in order to avoid any untoward incidents in the future and for the safety of the children, the school management should record all the online classes. Further, the CM warned that offenders will be booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
According to reports, School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi added that a helpline would also be set up to receive complaints. The complaints must be duly enquired by the cyber crime department in a discreet manner without causing any harm to the children, the CM said in the meeting on Wednesday.
Both the school managements and Parents Teachers Associations (PTAs) should form committees and both committees must review the recordings frequently, the press release stated.
Stalin also ordered that a committee should be formed with officials of the School Education Department, Higher Education Department, police officials from prevention of cyber crime prevention against women and children (CCPWC) and educationalists. The committee is expected to submit a set of guidelines to the CM for conducting online classes, within one week.
Home Secretary SK Prabakar, Director General of Police JK Tripathy and other senior officials were present at the meeting, which took place at the Secretariat in Chennai.