Student death: Odisha govt tells higher educational institutes to display women helpline number

Bhubaneswar: In the wake of the self-immolation death of a woman student over an alleged sexual harassment incident in Balasore’s Fakir Mohan Autonomous College, the Odisha government Friday made it mandatory for all higher education institutions to prominently display the Women Helpline Number-181 on the campus.

In a letter to all registrars and heads of all universities, government colleges, aided colleges and private colleges under the Higher Education Department, the government directed that all must treat it as “extremely urgent”.

In addition, the Higher Education department has also directed universities and colleges to strictly follow the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act, 2013) and the guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission in this regard and to organise awareness workshops related to this.

All students, teaching and non-teaching staff of the university and college, members of the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) will attend the workshop and will take an oath to strictly follow the provisions of the POSH Act, 2013. The letter mentions that the details of the workshop will be provided to the Higher Education department within the next three days.

The state’s School and Mass Education Department Thursday had also issued a similar direction to all district education officers (DEOs) to ensure a safe environment for women employees and students, particularly girls in schools.

The DEOs were asked to implement relevant provisions under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. The school and mass education department also issued the same women’s helpline number 181 to be displayed prominently on the campus of all schools.

PTI

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