Counselors told to report any sexual activities in schools to Police

The matter of sexual activities by students should be reported to the police within 24 hours.

This has been highlighted during the Teachers Counseling Workshop by the Education Ministry’s Executive Support Officer Emelini Naisele at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial High School.

Naisele said the teacher or the counselor should take the matter to the Principal first and it should be reported to the police within the timeframe.

She said teachers or counselors should not try to interrogate the students or investigate the matter themselves as police officers, as this may cause further embarrassment to the victim.

The Ministry’s Counselor Eastern Semi Ramatika said showing respect and assuring the victim that the information will be kept confidential are one of the major factors that leads to the trust between the victim and the counselor.

Ramatika also highlighted that the victim cannot be forced into counseling however the counselor or the teacher should be able to convince the victim that he or she is in trouble and the issue needs to be addressed in a confidential manner.