“School children sexual harassment is shocking”

KABUL (Afghanistan Time): The Independent Human Rights Commission reports of sexual harassment of children at schools and seminaries, calling it shocking and a matter of concern.

“There is no law regarding the prevention of children sexual harassment at schools and madrasas so that schools and madrasas come under surveillance. This is a matter of concern for us and the reports are shocking,” Sima Samar, director of the commission said Saturday.

The report has worried people too, with some families warning that they would stop allowing their children go to schools if the issue was not met.

“Harassment of children at schools is a matter of great concern for us, even a lot of families have decided not to send their children to school. If the sexual harassment at schools is not considered serious and its perpetrators are not punished, this would widen and then it would be impossible to prevent it,” said Ahmad Zia Alokozai, a Kabul resident, whose young son is school student.

“They need to be punished, a system is needed to prosecute them and if they do not abandon sexual harassment, they should be dismissed from their jobs,” Hajji Mangal, another Kabul resident said.

The issue was first unveiled by media reports, and the ministry of education says it was working on an emergency policy to fight sexual harassments in schools.

“This is not acceptable for the ministry of education under any circumstances and this is against our religion and culture, and we decided today in the leading council that an emergency policy should be adopted in this regard,” said Mohammad Ebrahim Shinwari, deputy education minister.