THE SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF WOMEN AT WORKPLACE (PREVENTION, PROHIBITION AND REDRESSAL) ACT – 2013.
“An Act to provide protection against sexual harassment of women at workplace and for the prevention and redressal of complaints of sexual harassment and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto”.
Introduction
LDC Public School, Sorao, Prayagraj (U.P) is co-educational institution up to Senior Secondary level and affiliated to CBSE, New Delhi. As on date strength of the school is 950 and in staff there are 30 women employees and 330 girls students. As per the provisions of ‘Sexual Harassment of women at workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013’, it is obligatory for a school to constitute a Sexual Harassment Redressal Committee for female employees / girls (students) in the school.
To comly with the guidelines and provisions of the ‘Act’, the School Management constituted a well equipped and empowered ‘five members committee’ immediately after the said ‘Act’ came into existence. The members of the committee are well versed and acquainted with provisions of the ‘Act’.
Objective of the ‘committee:-
Keeping the essence of the ‘Act’ in view, the school management has set some goals to be accomplished by the committee, which is elaborated in the following manner.
• Provide a safe working environment at the workplace which shall include safety from the persons coming into contact at the workplace.
• Display at any conspicuous place in the workplace, the penal consequences of sexual harassments.
• Organise or attending workshops and awareness programmes at regular intervals for sensitising the employees with the provisions of the Act and orientation programmes for the members of the Internal Committee in the manner as may be prescribed
• Ensure necessary facilities to the Internal Committee or the Local Committee, as the case may be, for dealing with the complaint and conducting an inquiry.
• Assist in securing the attendance of respondent and witnesses before the Internal Committee or the Local Committee, as the case may be;
• Make available such information to the Internal Committee or the Local Committee, as the case be, as it may require having regard to the complaint made under sub-section (1) of section 9 of the Act.
• Treat sexual harassment as a misconduct under the service rules and initiate action for such misconduct;
• monitor the timely submission of reports by the Internal Committee
Meetings of the Committee:
The ‘Committee’ convenes meeting twice in a year (at the beginning of 1st Term and 2nd Term) just to analyse and discuss about the accomplishment of the set goals in three different dimensions i.e. Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal which is soul of the ‘Act’. The school management gladly expresses its reviews that the committee have been achieving its goals satisfactorily so far. For this, every year the ‘Committee’ is renewed and reconstituted as per the provisions of the Act and need of the hour.
As we all are aware of the COVID-19 outbreak has affected all segments of the society and as a part of society, normal functioning of the school is badly affected with this pandemic COVID-19 and also affected our economic, physical and mental well-being. As a responsible school we are also following the set guidelines by the government and in this adverse situation we are also maintaining social distancing which has left no option but to convene the meeting virtually.
So on on 2nd April 2020 (Thursday),The ‘Committee’ has convened a virtual meeting chaired by Presiding officer Ms. Geeta Arora (Principal – LDC Public school, Soraon, Prayagraj), at 2 pm., wherein Safety and Preventive measures to accomplish the various objectives of the ‘Committee’ were discussed in detail, with all the existing committee members and at the end the ‘Committee’ was reconstituted with the inclusion of some new members. The reconstituted committee members are as followes:
• Presiding Officer - Ms. Geeta Arora (Principal – LDC Public School, Sorao, Prayagraj).
• Member – Ms. Shreya Agrawal (Counselor – LDC Public School, Sorao, Prayagraj)
• Member – Ms. Sudha Dixit (PGT – LDC Public School, Sorao, Prayagraj)
• Member – Ms. Anuya Dhawan (TGT- LDC Poblic School, Sorao, Prayagraj)
• Member – Ms. Talqueen Sheikh (PRT – LDC Public School, Sorao, Prayagraj)
The meeting ended with the appreciation and acknowledging the hard work of outgoing members and welcoming the incoming members and obviously with vote of thanks. And finally reconstituted committee members were asked to work with more sense of responsibility and accountability.
That’s all
Regards,
Geeta Arora
Principal