By Manjima Dhakal

Kathmandu, Feb. 18: Considering the increasing cases of violence against women across the country, the government has asked all community schools to install complaint boxes.
The Centre for Education and Human Resource Development (CEHRD) has directed all schools across the country to install the complaint boxes where the girl students as well as others can leave written complaints about their problems. The CEHRD so directed schools after the murder of Bhagrathi Bhatta for effective implementation of the complaint boxes as the cases of violence against school girls began increasing at an alarming rate.
In the last Fiscal Year (FY) 076/77, a total of 2,831 rape cases were registered across the nation. Of them, 1,393 (49 per cent) victims were minors, including 273 girls aged below 10 years. Similarly, in FY 075/76, 2,753 incidents of rape were registered, of which 1,232 were minors.
Many schools which have already installed complaint boxes have experienced that students are leaving written complaints on a range of issues, including sexual harassment, bullying, school infrastructure, learning experience and the issues of transparency at schools in such boxes.
Lab Raj Oli, campaigner for installation of the complaint boxes at community schools across the country, informed that a recent study held in schools having complaints boxes shows that about 30 per cent complaints related to sexual violence were filed .
Therefore, it is sure that most cases of gender-based violence and other problems could be solved at initial phase if schools across the country install complaints boxes effectively and initiated to address the children's problems, Oli further said.The government had initiated the programme from 2073 BS in support of UNICEF after realising that most students were unable to report the problems they faced in their classrooms to their teachers.
There is a provision that complaints filed at the boxes are heard and addressed by a seven-member committee led by School Management Committee's chairperson or other members. The committee members include elected female representative of cornered ward, head master, representative of guardian-teachers' association, gender focal person of the schools and two students.
The complaint boxes are opened every Friday and checked by the designated focal person, preferably a female teaching staff.