Experiences of girl students toward sexual harassment in classroom: A narrative inquiry study

Abstract

The present study entitled “Experiences of girl students toward sexual harassment in classroom: A narrative inquiry study” has the main objectives to assess the experience of sexual harassment in the classroom to the female students of Tribhuvan University and to identify the forms of sexual harassment in the Tribhuvan University of the female students. I adopted qualitative research on narrative inquiry research design. All the teachers and students of the Department of Education of Tribhuvan University are my area of study. Out of the girl students studying in the Faculty of Education, Tribhuvan University, I collected the information from the selected girl until the saturation of information. I included four girl students purposively on the basis of various characteristics. Respondents selected through a purposive random sampling procedure. In depth interview the tool for information collection in this study. Both primary and secondary sources of information analyzed in a descriptive and qualitative way. According to this research, girl students at Tribhuvan University were being sexually harassed. Their own classmates and teachers were seen engaging in such activities. Girl students were exposed to three main forms of sexual harassment, including verbal sexual harassment, physical sexual harassment and cyber sexual harassment. The most common was cyber sexual harassment. This type of harassment was seen to affect the girl students physically as well as mentally. Verbal sexual harassment includes the use of ambiguous words, attempts to use words outside the context, used unnecessary relationships, etc. Similarly, physical sexual harassment includes trying to get stuck in the classroom, trying to talk while touching the body while doing normal things, holding hands, moving the hair and trying to get stuck while walking. Under cyber sexual harassment, male students and teachers appear to have sent ambiguous words to the girl students in the message, making unnecessary comments on the personal figure, sending unnecessary messages, sending photos and making unnecessary proposals. The girls student, who are able to express their own problems clearly, express their views spontaneously as needed, are less likely to be sexually harassed. The students, who were narrow-minded, couldn't express their opinions clearly and were scared, were more likely to be sexually harassed. This type of sexual harassment seems to have a negative effect on the personality development of the girl students.