When will all these stop??

One of my aunt’s friends is a single mother, who lives in a good residential locality in Chennai. Her daughter studies in X standard in a leading school in Chennai.

A month back, the girl came home from school with very high fever. She did not speak to anyone, did not eat, and looked petrified. In spite of giving her antibiotics, the fever did not subside. When she had 104 degrees for four days continuously, her mother called my aunt and asked her what to do. My aunt tried to speak to the girl and ask her what happened. The girl did not respond. My aunt asked her mom to stay outside and asked the girl what had happened after giving her confidence that she will support her completely. And this is what the girl has said.

The physical trainer of the school has misbehaved with the girl. You know what would have happened. I don’t need to explain it. When my aunt told the girl’s mother, she just broke down. The next day she went to the school and told them what had happened. Looks like, the teachers already knew that the girl had a problem with PT class. She used to cry not to attend the class and would prefer writing her home work. And the teachers have forced her to attend the class. Irresponsible teachers they are! Couldn’t they think straight and ask what had happened? And if the girl was afraid, could not they inform the same to parents. And the school management has said they will take extra care of the girl, but can not do anything else since the reputation of the school will get affected. The mother has decided to change the school next year since this year she had board exams.

When will all these stop? I am sure most of the women would have faced such physical trainers or teachers or office colleagues or bus conductors or co-passengers or such perverts on the road. I have faced them and I am sure most of the women would have. Some women have the strength to stare at them, to shout at them, to slap them, to spray pepper on them, to pinch them with safety pin, to hit them with their shoes or what not.

But some women are like the girl in this case. I personally know the mom and the girl. Both are very beautiful. They are very soft-spoken people. The girl’s mom faced lot of physical and psychological troubles in her marriage before she came out of it. And because of her beauty, she still has problems from other men who try to marry her and keep troubling her. So, naturally they try to avoid strangers and are very reserved. Hence, it needed a lot of effort to make the girl open her heart. Sad but true!

How can parents avoid such situations? Listed below are few points that I can think. Please let me know your thoughts!

• Select a school closer to home. That gives the child immense confidence and will avoid most of these issues.
• Drop and pick up the child yourself or ask your relative or neighbor to do so. Invariably, the sight of a parent in school will stop these. Also, it gives you a chance to know the children and their environment.
• Know all the teachers so that your child knows that you will speak to the teacher whenever any problem occurs.
• Allow your child’s friends to come home. You can learn a lot about the school from their conversation.
• Educate the child to protect herself. There is no point in being afraid.