School textbooks to carry helpline numbers in Tamil Nadu

In the backdrop of rising sexual harassment cases in schools across TN, to enhance the security of female students, the State government is planning to print helpline numbers on the front page of all textbooks before it is to be distributed for the third term. 

With such cases on the rise, the School Education Department has initiated several measures including setting up students’ safety advisory committees in each school. Of the total 1.31 crore students from elementary level to higher secondary standards, about 50% are females. 

A senior official from the School Education Department said that textbooks for two terms for all the classes were released and distributed free of cost for government school students. “Though the helpline numbers were displayed in the notice board of schools, we received reports that many students were not aware of it. Thus, the authorities suggested that student’s helpline numbers such as 14417 and 1098 could be printed in the textbooks so that students would not miss it,” the official said. 

According to Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation, students of all classes are yet to receive the third term textbooks. 

Officials clarified as the printing of third-term textbooks was almost over, a label containing the student’s helpline number could be tightly pasted in each textbook for all the subjects. While distributing the third term textbooks to the students, the school management and the teachers would ensure the availability of the two numbers on the first page of each textbook. Authorities are also planning to print the helpline telephone numbers in notebooks, which are freely distributed for students in State-run schools. From the new academic year, all the school textbooks will carry printed helpline numbers.