Parents of students at Shahid Nazmul Haque Girls’ High School in Rajshahi staged a protest on Monday, accusing an assistant teacher of repeatedly making advances on female students.
The protest was held on the school premises in the city’s Kadirganj area from 9am to 12pm after parents said no action was taken despite their written complaint to the headteacher.
The accused Shahabub Alam, is an assistant teacher at the institution. Parents alleged that he frequently behaved inappropriately with students and, most recently, approached a fourth-grade student after school last Tuesday when she was alone on the stairs.
Following the incident, the girl has reportedly become too frightened to attend school. Parents said they lodged a written complaint on Sunday demanding action but resorted to protest the next day as no step was taken.
During the demonstration, parents accused Alam of repeatedly troubling female students under various pretexts. They claimed acting headteacher Abul Kalam Azad barred him from attending school, and he did not appear on Monday.
Alam, however, denied the allegations, saying, “It is being claimed that I harassed a fourth-grade student. How is that possible? I would never do such a thing. This is an internal school matter, and I am being framed. The headteacher prevented me from coming to school today because of these allegations, so I did not attend. An investigation will take place, and I will take leave in the meantime.”
Acting Headteacher Abul Kalam Azad also denied barring the teacher, saying, “Parents submitted a written complaint yesterday (Sunday) alleging that Shahabub Alam touches and physically assaults students. However, the complaint does not mention any incident involving a fourth-grade student on Tuesday.”
He added that the school management committee’s president, the additional divisional commissioner (general), has been informed and will take action following an investigation. Parents, he said, are now closely monitoring the situation.
