Ensuring school authorities protect students from sexual harassment

The bad news is that sexual harassment may be happening in our schools on a daily basis.it may be happening in the halls, in the classrooms, in the cafeteria, on the playground, or in all the places that students congregate and where adults are present.

Sexual harassment is not a new thing. It has been happening for years except that we didn't label it 'sexual harassment. We have ignored, denied it, and not held ourselves accountable for its impact on students and their opportunity to receive an education in a safe environment, free of hostility. In fact, we have not addressed it as a problem in schools until recently.

With court decisions involving sexual harassment complaints against schools districts concerning students, school districts are paying closer attention to developing policies and procedures prohibiting sexual harassment in the educational environment.it is not enough, however, to create policies without staff and students being aware of such policies and their implications.

The fact remains, sexual harassment is illegal, both in the workplace and in the educational environment, students who experience sexual harassment in school are being denied equal education opportunities based on the title.

The good news is that sexual harassment can be prevented by teaching students to respect one another and having a healthy relationship between both sexes.

Students can become more sensitive towards each other and realise that harassment in and of itself is demoralising and degrading.

School districts can best demonstrate this to students by taking a stand and not tolerating harassment in any form. this can be accomplished through awareness training about sex discrimination and bias and its effect on people.

Empowering students to stand up for themselves when they experience harassment be it sexual, racial, or religious harassment

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