Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Feb 10: Opposition Congress Tuesday targeted the ruling party for doing nothing to the growing atrocities, sexual harassment and insecurity of students at government-run residential schools and hostels. It demanded the resignation of SC/ST development minister during the assembly session Tuesday.
Bringing an adjournment motion on the topic, Congress chief whip Taraprasad Bahinipati said tribal girls are being sexually exploited by headmasters and teachers in Ashram schools. But nothing has been done by the SC/ST development department for their safety and security. Quality education has remained a distant dream for these children.
Citing the incidents of a Class VI student of Umuri Ashram School in Jeypore block of Koraput district delivering a boy February 4 just 12 days after a Class X student of a school at Lingada in Kandhamal district became mother of a baby, Bahinipati said the minister should resign as his department has totally failed to provide security to these students.
Congress members from tribal areas took part in the debate. Congress member Krushna Chandra Sagaria said, in the name of development nothing is done for these students.
“While the minister claims around 4.5 lakh tribal students are pursuing education and over 4 lakh more such students are residing in various hostels to pursue studies, hardly anything has been done to properly monitor the places of their staying, especially government- run hostels,” Sagaria said.
BJP MLA Pradip Purohit said, “Though money is spent for these students, they do not have any guardian in these school hostels and the government is hardly bothered about it.”
The BJD members also said security and safety of these children is the duty of the state government.
SC/ST development minister Lal Bihari Himirika said, “The state government is taking all measures to ensure safety and security of these students and quality education. Besides we are taking stringent action to punish the guilty.”
“3,000 matron posts have been created and we are in the process of hiring them to ensure security in such hostels,” he said.
Himirika further said, three guidelines such as safety security guidelines, mess management guidelines and school hostel monitoring guidelines have been sent to every district to ensure safety of these students.
