It said Harry Tan had failed to acknowledge the severity of the issue by criticising the Nationwide School Walkout Day, a protest against sexual harassment, rape and abuse in schools.
While it pointed out that not all teachers were perpetrators, many had practised silence and inaction instead of reporting their colleagues for misconduct, it said in a statement.
The statement was signed by the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG), along with Bulan Sisters and Pertubuhan Pembangunan Kendiri Wanita dan Gadis (WOMEN:girls).
“NUTP’s focus on reputation damage control connotes a disturbing need to ‘save face’ for the teaching profession, at the expense of the students who are meant to be protected by these perpetrators,” it said.
The statement also chided Tan for questioning if such incidences were actually a widespread issue, citing a lack of reports and existing data.
This is proof that there is a lack of understanding about the issue of sexual harassment within the teaching profession, it said.
This comes with “under-reporting among survivors due to fear of reprisal, insensitivity by figures of authorities, especially the immediate reaction of disbelief (as aptly portrayed by Tan) and a lack of survivor-centric redress mechanisms”.
The group said rape culture should not be an “all-or-none” concept, as just one case of sexual harassment or abuse in school was “one case too many”.
It noted that police had only recorded 1,218 sexual harassment cases between 2013 and 2017, which contradicted with findings from a 2019 YouGov Omnibus research that one in three Malaysian women experienced sexual harassment.
In an interview with Astro Awani yesterday, Tan raised questions on whether sexual harassment, rape and abuse of power in schools were happening in schools nationwide.
“How is it a widespread problem? Where are the statistics, where is the data? Who are they talking about?” he asked.
“We have 450,000 teachers in the country, we have 10,000 schools. How many schools are they talking about? Give me the facts.”