These past few days I have followed the media and social media platforms with utmost horror and utter revulsion. Some very overzealous teachers have been going around checking if girls had their period so they may be excused from fasting and praying. I am astounded at the audacity of these self-appointed teachers who do they think they are?
Religion in any case is a personal matter, a girl fasting or not fasting is between her and Allah and no one else. This is a total disregard of personal space, human rights and to top it all is sexual harassment.
“A student shared that it was common practice for an ustazah in her boarding school is to make girls on their periods line up and take off their underwear to prove it to her.” Who does this ustazah assume she is? Will she get more brownie points with Allah if she does this? Is she sure of what she is doing is, right? This is the problem we have with women who are overreaching in trying to be perfect Muslimahs but instead they turn into little horrible robots with no sense of right and wrong.
I am glad I was never subjected to these kinds of things, and I have four sons so they were spared this but had it been my daughter I think that ustazah would have a lot of explaining to do. Does this whole thing not sound like some pervert going around checking on girls’ private matters to say the least?
How is it MOE (Ministry of Education) has allowed this to happen? What kind of practices are they allowing in the name of religion? What is this need for people in authority to poke their nose into people’s private matters?
Blatant sexual harassment happening in schools
The issue came to light when Twitter user and human rights activist @TerryDieHeiden wondered if 'period spot checks' were still being practised in boarding schools.
According to him, during the month of Ramadan, some teachers (especially women religious teachers) physically checked students to make sure they do not use menstruation as an excuse to escape fasting and prayers.
I still can’t believe this is true and has been happening for years. How about the parents are they aware of this?
Let this be a lesson to us parents of girls or boys that we must educate our children on what is permissible and what is not. Below is exactly why we should impress on our children that just because someone is in authority, they do not have the right to do and ask anything of the children under their purview.
Meanwhile, another said her hostel warden often asked them to show their period blood on a piece of tissue or she will grope their buttocks or private parts to check if they were wearing pads.
"I didn't register it as sexual harassment until much later in life," said a victim.
As it was so normalised in school, many victims only realised the gravity of the issue with age.
"We disliked it but didn't know it was harassment, invasive, and wrong. We trusted them," the human rights activist said was a common theme among the replies he received. Hundreds of Malaysians are sharing disturbing stories of sexual harassment and abuse they suffered while they were in school.
Now, this makes me wonder what other kind of abuse are teachers perpetrating based on religion and misusing their power and authority to do and abuse students?
I feel like we are living in the middle ages, instead of progressing to an equal and fair society, we are reverting to old fashioned and outdated concepts the worst thing about this it is perpetrated by women onto girls. Do we not see the irony in all of this?
The Role of MOE cannot be disregarded
MOE should train their teachers better about what they are allowed to do and what they shouldn’t do including going overboard with imposing ridiculous rules and regulations. They are the gatekeepers of education it is their duty to educate their teachers— not the role of people and students to teach teachers what is right from wrong.
The Ministry must be made to answer, hiding behind we will investigate is not good enough! This indirectly means MOE is saying they are not aware of it happening. Why are you not aware of what is happening under your purview? We cannot let MOE off here under any circumstances. The finger should blatantly be pointed at them.
Several civil society groups have taken the Education Ministry and Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) to task over allegations of sexual harassment in schools that have made the rounds on Twitter.
The Ministry of Education has to be held responsible for the actions of its teachers, so what kind of action is being taken against the said teacher? Not to mention the period checking I have always wanted to have daughters in this particular case I am quite glad I have all four boys the thought of my daughter going through such humiliations is extremely distressful, to say the least.
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) request MOE look into all these allegations.
In a joint statement the All Women’s Action Society (Awam), Sisters in Islam (SIS) and Pertubuhan Pembangunan Kendiri Wanita dan Gadis (Women:girls) called for the setting up of a task force to investigate the matter.
Awam, SIS and Women:girls have made a call on the Education Ministry and MARA to set up an investigative task force, starting with state boarding schools, to collect empirical evidence and (gain) factual insights into this systemic issue from the students themselves.
“In that process, survivors should be given full assurance of safety and privacy, with their identities kept confidential.”
They identified the following allegations that went viral recently:
A male teacher sending messages to schoolgirls, such as “You miss me or not?” or “You love me or not?”, and taking them out individually to Starbucks;
Male students molesting and sexually assaulting their female peers;
Male students staring at the bodies of their female classmates sleeping in the classroom; and,
Teachers and students ganging up to body-shame girls, including commenting on their breasts.
Another user also posted about an allegation that a teacher attempted to groom female students via WhatsApp messages and one-on-one outings.
The NGOs said it was about time that crucial stakeholders such as the MOE, government agencies, and parents collaborate to create a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual violations in schools.
“Period spot checks; physically invasive spot checks for ‘forbidden items’; body, clothing and intimate relationship shaming in public; child grooming; molestation; and, slapping and pinching of the nipples as punishment are just a few of the violating incidences experienced by students in Malaysian schools that have been brought to the public’s attention recently,” said the joint statement.
These practices reflect a toxic culture of patriarchy, sexism, harassment, abuse, bullying and religious policing, with Malaysia’s younger generation on the receiving end.
Instead of a place where students can learn to achieve their full potential, said the groups, young women are trained to live in fear, and experience insecurities about their bodies and clothing.
“These are degrading and abusive treatments that violate the physical body and personal boundaries without consent made worse by the fact that most survivors here are or were underaged when these incidents happened.
“Under the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, and outrage of modesty under Section 354 of the Penal Code, these cases would be considered criminal offences and are punishable by law.”
The organisations said allowing these practices to be carried out by teaching staff trains students to believe it is acceptable to violate another person’s body without consent.
The Case of Ain
I was rather happy and felt I was done with this article but lol and behold comes to light the issue of a teacher making a joke out of rape to his female underage student!
Can our school system go any lower? What do our teachers think rape is?
How does a grown man make such a joke in a classroom, what kind of ethics must one have inculcated to even think of such a thing? And the worst is when the student came forward with a complaint other men (some apparently highly educated too) and some of her classmates came forward to threaten and cyberbully her. What kind of society are we living in?
I have two questions what are our teachers being trained in and what are the parents of such men and boys teaching them? This mindset of women as second class and men’s property need to be changed, patriarchy is so deeply entrenched in our society today that men feel superior to women and think they own women hence any kind of injustice done to women is not viewed as important as let’s say the same thing being done to a man. I am no men hater however some men really take the cake in their thoughts of how women should dress and behave.
What Ain Husniza has done is nothing short of heroic, calling out to make our schools safer, however, this is the job of the Ministry of Education and the government, not a 17-year-old girl!
Ain made headlines after she lodged a police report against a male teacher for allegedly making rape jokes in class, a move that sent shockwaves through the nation. She also lodged a report against a group of schoolmates who allegedly made rape threats against her following her first police report, because they learnt from the best of course!
However, her father was quoted as saying that the case (against her schoolmates) will be recorded as a no further action (NFA) by the police after the schoolmates and their families sought forgiveness from Ain’s family.
Saiful Nizam, Ain’s father made a very strong point in his Facebook post when he said he was embarrassed and sad that he could not provide a safe environment for his daughter.
"Now, she is taking her own efforts to change what has been entrenched for so long and had already become rotten at the root in the soul of our society in general," he said.
"When she voices out, she gets scolded. When she disagrees, she gets insulted and her efforts ridiculed. When there is a difference in opinion, her appearance is derided," added Saiful Nizam.
"Let us make our school a safer environment for students to gain knowledge, instead of degrading their position as just objects of wretched male lust," said Saiful Nizam.
All this shows is that our education system is broken not just with the teaching itself but the teachers themselves. Something should be done soon to remedy the situation and create a better system that our children are safe and can come out as contributing well-adjusted people.
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