Teachers Training students allege sexual abuse

NAMAKKAL: About a hundred girls of the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) here launched a protest, alleging sexual abuse and intimidation by their principal and sought his immediate dismissal from the institute, on Sunday morning.The girls resorted to a sit-in on their hostel premises on Mohanur road. When they tried to stage a road roko, the girls were sent back to the hostel after officials including police inspector M Ravichandran promised to tkae action. The girls alleged that principal R Kanagaraj had sexually abused them and had ill-treated them.A second-year student told Express that they have submitted a memorandum to the district collector on Saturday evening, which details the abuse and misery they are forced to undergo everyday.A memorandum was also handed over to R Somasundaram, deputy director of the Directorate of Teacher Education Research and Training (DTERT), when he visited the hostel on Sunday to look into the issue. However, no formal complaint has been lodged yet, she said. “We have been subjected to several kinds of abuse by the principal. He threatens us with dire consequences if we try to lodge a complaint with higher officials or protest against him. We cannot bear his harassment anymore,” she added.However, Kanagaraj said the students were acting at the behest of a group of lecturers harbouring ill-feelings against him. “Since I run the institute very strictly, some teachers have instigated the girls,” he said.The girls denied his claims and said it was an attempt to cover up his abuse. Somasundaram told Express that a report would be submitted to the director of DTERT for further action.