I AS a mother wish so much to see an official statement from the Ministry of Education stipulating harsh punishments for any teacher — at least loss of their job — who is guilty of sexually harassing children.

Of late, there have been e-mails telling a story of a mother who went to her son’s school and publicly confronted the teacher who had harassed her son. The story ends with the transfer of the teacher to an administrative job after he admitted his crime.

I cannot say if this story is true or false but I can surely say harsh punishment from the ministry for such crimes would reassure parents, especially since it is a fact that harassment occurs both in the school and at home.

According to Abdullah Al-Yousef, a professor of sociology at King Saud University, about 82 percent of cases worldwide of children being sexually molested occurred in places that were supposedly safe — and some 77 percent of molesters were people whom the children trusted.

Such statistics should be a wake-up call to threats against childhood innocence, not only at home but also in kindergartens and schools where children spend so much time. These are supposed to be safe places for the children, places where parents can be sure their children are safe and well taken care of.

This is a serious matter that should be seriously dealt with. Sexual harassment will have adverse effects on the child, not only physically but psychologically as well. It may cause sexual deviations such as molested children turning away from the opposite sex.

Molested children may never be able to live a normal life, especially if the molester is one of the parents. The molested child may end in becoming a molester himself when he grows up.

Since stories of sexual harassment have been openly reported, every one of us has been anxiously waiting to see an official intervention for a solution but there has been none.

Harsh punishments and deterrent laws are still not in the offing. Our society is shrugging off the existence of such cases amidst us and pointing an accusing finger to the West. It would be more useful to learn from the laws of the West in such cases instead of just condemning it as being a promiscuous society.

We have to enlighten our children about sexual harassment and instill in them the confidence to refuse any attempt at abusing their bodies. It is regrettable that the campaigns organized by the ministry were aimed at discovering cases of domestic abuse rather than spreading awareness among children about sexual harassment.

We are now looking forward to solutions to this problem. Can we hope for a response?