The Most Precious Purchase: Teaching Gratitude This Dhanteras
Oct 11, 2025By Meera Iyer
Your child walks into their school in the morning. You wave goodbye, hoping they'll come back safe. But what if they don't? What if, instead of math lessons, they face assault from someone hired to keep them safe? What if that someone is wearing a school uniform, or works as a caretaker, or cleans the bathrooms?
This isn't a hypothetical anymore. It's happening in our schools. Right now. And most of us don't even know about it.
The Hard Truth About What's Happening in Our Schools
Let me be direct with you. Children in Indian schools are being attacked—sexually, physically, and violently—and too often, the people doing this are the ones the school hired to protect them.
In 2022 alone, India witnessed 162,000 child abuse cases, an 8.7% increase from the previous year. This number is staggering. And these are just the reported cases. Many crimes go unreported because parents are ashamed, scared, or don't even know what to look for.
But you don't need to look back to 2022. Look at what happened just months ago.
- August 2024, Badlapur, Maharashtra: A 23-year-old male sweeper employed at a prominent school sexually assaulted two four-year-old girls in the school washroom. Not once. Twice. Two different children. One girl complained of pain to her parents. That's how they found out. Another child was also attacked. The sweeper had been hired on a contract basis. Nobody was watching him. The case sparked massive protests across the Thane district because parents realized their children were never actually safe.
- July 2025, Mumbai: A 40-year-old English language teacher at a prominent school was arrested for repeatedly sexually assaulting a 16-year-old male student. This wasn't a one-time incident. She took him to luxury hotels. She got him drunk. She gave him anti-anxiety pills. A friend of hers actually encouraged the boy to accept the "relationship," telling him affairs between older women and boys were normal now. The boy's parents noticed he was depressed and anxious but waited, hoping it would stop. It didn't. He slipped into depression. He's 16 years old.
- September 2025, Mumbai: A woman caretaker at a prominent private school was arrested for sexually assaulting a four-year-old girl. The child complained of pain in her private parts. A doctor found an injury. The girl told her parents the caretaker had touched her inappropriately in the bathroom. The caretaker had been working there for over two years. Two years. And nobody checked on her. Nobody supervised her access to children.
These aren't old stories. This is happening right now in the schools your neighbors trust. In schools that charge high fees. In "prominent" schools. In schools, you've probably heard of.
Why Are These Crimes Happening?
Before we talk about solutions, we need to understand why this keeps happening. And the answer isn't complicated—it's a mix of poor policies, weak enforcement, and a system that doesn't prioritize children.
- Schools hire people with minimal background checks: Many schools don't do thorough verification of the people they bring in. A caretaker can work for two years with no real supervision. A sweeper can have unlimited access to bathrooms and children with zero oversight. A contract worker can be hired without serious verification.
- There's no proper supervision: Security guards are often left unsupervised. They have keys to every area. Caretakers can accompany children to bathrooms without anyone watching. Sweepers can be in school washrooms during times when children use them. Nobody regularly checks what they're doing or where they're going.
- Staff members are protected too easily: When a teacher or staff member commits a crime, schools often cover it up or quietly move to the next thing rather than report to the police. When parents complain, they're told "it's being handled internally." The child's safety becomes less important than the school's reputation. Look at the teacher case; the boy's family knew something was wrong but kept quiet for months, hoping it would go away. They shouldn't have had to make that choice.
- No proper training: Many guards, caretakers, and staff are not trained on recognizing abuse, reporting it, or keeping children safe. They don't know what warning signs to look for. They don't know what they're actually supposed to be doing or where they're supposed to be.
- Lack of CCTV and proper monitoring: Even schools with cameras don't use them properly. Bathrooms aren't monitored (and shouldn't be for privacy), but there's no system to track who enters or leaves and when. No one watches the footage regularly. Blind spots exist everywhere.
- Children are scared to report: Many children don't tell their parents because they're ashamed, confused, or scared of not being believed. The 16-year-old boy in the teacher case was being given pills and alcohol. He was depressed. His family noticed but didn't know how to handle it. He never formally reported.
Why Policies Fail and What Should Change
We have laws. We have the POCSO Act. We have rules about school safety. But they're not being followed. And even when they are, the rules are often not strict enough.
Schools break rules because there are not enough penalties or inspections. A school might get a fine, but it keeps operating. Parents get blamed for being overprotective. Complaints get buried. In the Badlapur case, there were massive protests because parents were angry that such a thing could happen at a prominent school.
What needs to change right now:
Mandatory, thorough background checks for all school staff and security.
Not just a one-time check when someone is hired. Ongoing monitoring. Regular verification every two years. This should include criminal history, previous complaints against them at other schools, reference verification, and verification of identity documents. A caretaker shouldn't work at a school for two years without proper background verification.
Independent inspections of schools by government bodies, not just self-inspections.
Not just once a year. Random, surprise inspections at least twice a year. Check CCTV footage. Check supervision records. Interview staff and students separately. Make these inspection reports public so parents can see the results. Parents should have access to safety audit reports before enrolling their children.
Proper training for all staff, every single person.
Everyone in school, from principal to guard to caretaker to cleaner, should be trained on recognizing abuse, reporting it, protecting children, and understanding boundaries. This shouldn't be optional or happen once a year. It should be regular, mandatory training with actual testing to make sure people understand.
Strict consequences for schools that cover up crimes or ignore complaints.
If a school knows about abuse and doesn't report it to the police, the school should lose its license immediately. Those in charge, the principal and the management, should face criminal charges. Right now, many schools face minimal consequences for covering things up.
Separate police units dedicated to crimes against children in schools.
These cases need special handling. They need officers trained in child trauma, investigation techniques for children, and understanding how children disclose abuse. Not every police officer knows how to interview a four-year-old or understand why a teenager being abused might not report immediately.
Mandatory reporting laws with real consequences.
Teachers, guards, principals, caretakers, if they know or suspect abuse and don't report it to police, they should face jail time. Right now, the incentive is to stay silent and protect the school's reputation. That needs to change.
Safe reporting mechanisms for children within schools.
Schools should have trained counselors. Children should know who to report to, and that person should be someone outside the school's hierarchy so they're not afraid of retaliation. There should be multiple ways to report, such as talking to someone, writing it down, or calling a number. Children need to know their complaint will actually lead to action, not just be forgotten.
Bathroom supervision that actually works.
Bathrooms need to be safe but also private. There should be a system where bathrooms aren't left completely unsupervised, but children's privacy is also protected. A teacher or responsible person should be stationed nearby. Entry and exit should be monitored. One person shouldn't be alone with a child in a bathroom.
Limits on who can be alone with children.
No single staff member should have unsupervised access to children, especially very young children. There should always be visibility or multiple people present.
Conclusion
Most of us are hoping this doesn't happen to our child. We're hoping our child goes to a "good school" where "these things don't happen." But hoping isn't protecting.
Protecting means being uncomfortable. It means asking questions that make schools defensive. It means teaching your child things that make you sad. It means accepting that danger can exist anywhere, even at schools you trust, even at schools with high fees and good reputations.
Your child's safety is not your school's priority. It's yours. The school's priority is fees, grades, and reputation. The school has an incentive to downplay problems, not highlight them. You're the only person who will fight for your child with everything you have.
The parents in these recent cases didn't think it could happen to them either. They sent their children to prominent schools. They paid good money. They trusted the system. And something still happened. But because they eventually reported it, because they didn't stay silent, justice is being pursued. Those children are getting protection now.
Start today. Have the uncomfortable conversation with your child about their body. Ask your school the hard questions and don't accept vague answers. Visit unannounced. Know who's around your child. Notice changes in your child's behavior. Make sure your child knows they can tell you anything without being blamed.
If you notice something, report it. Don't wait. Don't hope it goes away. Don't think the school will handle it. Report it to the police. Call Childline. Document everything. Get help.
Because the next case we read about in the news could be at the school down your street. It could be someone you know. It could be your child.
But it doesn't have to be. Not if you act now.
Your child deserves to be safe. Don't hope for it. Demand it.
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