A complaint has been filed at the Employment Tribunal after four teachers working at Izzudheen School were forced to transfer jobs after they had complained the then-principal at the school was sexually harassing teachers at the school.
It has been reported that after the teachers had filed complaints against ex-Principal Ismail Naseer, some of the teachers who held the post of Leading Teacher were forced to resign from the post. While the forced resignations came back in 2021, the case was then submitted to the Civil Service Commission.
The Civil Service Commission recommended that the cases be forwarded to its Sexual Harassment Prevention committee. In April of 2021, some of the teachers working at the school submitted the case to Education Ministry's Sexual Harassment Prevention Committee.
While Public Interest Law Firm legally represented the teachers, in June 2021, the committee agreed that Principal Naseer had been found guilty of sexual harassment and recommended action against him as per the Sexual Harassment Act.
But the nature of the action taken against the suspect was not revealed to those who had filed the complaint by the committee.
Later on, the Education Ministry transferred the teachers who had submitted the complaint and those who had given statements during the hearings to other schools. These transfers had come through after the teachers had appealed not to be transferred to other schools after getting wind of the Education Ministry's decision.
The Ministry had then denied accusations that the teachers were transferred for reporting the sexual harassment case in a statement.
But Public Interest Law firm said that upon reviewing the case so far, it is clear that the four teachers were transferred to other schools because they had filed the case at the committee and acted to prove evidence and statements to prove their case. The law firm said that they had evidence to prove that the teachers were transferred to other schools unlawfully and hence have filed a case at the Employment Tribunal on behalf of the teachers. It added that the case is filed against the Civil Service Commission for unlawful transfers.
