Former student shares ordeal when she was harassed by teacher, Mass sharing forces police to investigate

Chennai: A teacher of the highly reputed PSBB school, which runs a chain of schools across the city, has been detained for interrogation following sexual harassment charges and misconduct.

The allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct against the Commerce and Accountancy teacher Rajagopalan, working in the school's KK Nagar branch, surfaced on social media and it soon went viral after a group of students who are currently studying in the school, shared them on Sunday night.

The allegations made by the students were initially shared on the Instagram page of a former student of the school, who said that some students reached out to her to ask if students from her batch had faced such sexual misconduct from Rajagopalan.

“After receiving the first message, I put out a message asking the students currently studying in the school to get in touch with me about the same. After speaking to a few of them, I shared their experiences,” the former student said, adding, several students responded to her messages and shared instances of Rajagopalan’s inappropriate behaviour- both during physical classes as well as during virtual classes.

A student alleged that the teacher has been asking them to send pictures of them to him and two other students shared that he had engaged in sexually inappropriate behaviour in class.

Reacting to the shocking development, Ms Sheela Rajendra, Dean, Director and Correspondent, PSBB Group of Schools and Geetha Govindarajan, PSBB K.K. Nagar Principal said they are taking suo motu cognizance of the allegations and will take necessary steps to

address the situation in a free, fair and transparent manner.

Whlie denying the charge that the matter has been brought to the attention of the school management in the past, they said in a statement that ''the welfare of our students has always been and will be our top priority”.

They also promised the students that an appropriate action will be taken on the matter.

The said the school has zero tolerance towards any behaviour that adversely affects the physical, emotional and psychological well being of our students.

The Chennai City Police's special wing, Crime against Women and Children took cognisance of the allegations against the faculty member and the school. On the instruction of the City Police Commissioner, a special team led by Deputy Commissioner, Crime against Women and Children (CWC) wing H.Jayalakshmi, is enquiring into the allegations.

Reacting to it, Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi said that he has directed the School Education department officials to look into the allegations. Joining issue, DMK MP Kanimozhi tweeted on Monday that the sexual harassment allegations against a commerce teacher in PSBB School were shocking.

“Inquiry should be conducted and action must be taken against those who are involved, including school authorities who failed to act against the complaints from students.I promise to take this to the concerned authorities,” she said.

Former Union Minister and DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran, in a tweet, said, as a parent he was extremely horrified by the reports of sexual harassment by a teacher in PSBB.“It’s of utmost importance to ensure a probe into the matter and accountability from the management to provide a safe environment for the children,” he added. PMK Founder Dr S Ramadoss also condemned the incident and demanded stringent action against the teacher concerned.(UNI)