The students of Kapasgola City Corporation Girls' High School in Chittagong city organized a protest against the headmaster for sexually assaulting female students by halting the book festival program at the school on Sunday morning.
After two hours of protesting, the students withdrew after the local ward councillor promised to remove the head teacher and replace the post with a female head teacher. Some former students and parents also joined the protest.
According to the complaint of the female students, the head teacher of the school, Alauddin Ahmed, called the female students from the classroom to his room to talk and harassed and sexually assaulted them in various ways.
A protesting class 10 student said that the headmaster Alauddin harassed the schoolgirls by going to various events including Red Crescent, Girl's Guide, Annual Prize Distribution and taking pictures with the female students. Again, if someone stood next to him during a picture, he would take off his mask and try to take a picture putting his hand on them.
“If any students opposed at the time, the head teacher threatened them in different ways. Fearing his power, everyone had remained silent until now,” the student added.
Claiming that the charge against him is completely false, Alauddin said: “This is a plot against me. Such charges are being made at the direction of certain former and current teachers to have me removed from the school.”
Meanwhile, Nur Mostafa Tinu, a Chawkbazar ward councillor, was present during the protest. He said that disciplinary action will be taken against the alleged head teacher, adding that he had contacted the mayor regarding the situation.
Later, the students withdrew from the protest after the ward councillor promised to remove headteacher Alauddin from the school, appoint a new female headmistress, and organize an inquiry committee to pursue disciplinary action against Alauddin.
Earlier, several complaints of sexual harassment were made against Alauddin on several occasions. He was also dismissed in 2013 for sexually harassing a class 12 student. After five years, he was reassigned as headteacher of the same school in 2018.
