Speakers at a programme said eve teasing was a social menace and it played a vital role in increasing drop-out rate among female students across the country.
They came up with the observation while addressing a discussion organised by the Bangladesh Women Lawyers’ Association (BNWLA).
The eve teasing prevention camp under legal literacy session held at Oxford Mission School with the financial assistance from Swedish International Development Agency.
The programme was addressed by Advocate Munira Begum, Kamrunnahar Tanu, Keka Ansari, Masuk Kamal of the BNWLA, Polonius Guda, headmaster, Dipali Bain, Samir Kumar Roy, teachers of Oxford Mission School.
The speakers said despite a direction from the Supreme Court to stop eve teasing, school and college going female students were still falling victim to brutality of eve teasing and sexual harassment.
One of the most adverse consequences of eve-teasing would be the rise in drop-out rate of girls from school. Those who are the victims of eve teasing are sometimes forced to marriage, before they are mentally or physically matured, the speakers said.
They also said random access of internet and western medias were also playing a vital in increasing drop-out rate.
The speakers stressed on preventing dowry, early marriage, domestic violence and spreading education and empowerment for the girls and females for ensuring their legal rights, safety, security.
An interactive teaching method is needed in the classroom alongside making the ways to school safe for female students, stopping eve-teasing and child marriage and removal of students’ malnutrition to prevent the dropout of students from schools, they said.
All the legal actions will only be successful when we as a nation will change our attitudes. If we want to get rid of violence against women, we need to change the attitudes of men and engrave a self generated respect for women coming from their heart, they opined.