Creaw Portal

Sexual harassment in schools is so endemic that pupils have developed terms to refer to sex with teachers but it goes unpunished

By wachira Kigolho

Sexual abuse and violence in schools in Sub-Saharan Africa is a major cause of low achievement and high dropout rates among girls.

According to a comprehensive report by the Plan International, a global development agency, the problem is so pervasive pupils in many countries have developed terms to refer to sexual relations with their teachers or fellow students.

From 'staffroom choir girls, 'sexually transmitted grades,' to 'bedroom fatigue' the emerging lexis provided key-holes to Plan re­searchers to glance inside class­rooms in Sub-Saharan Africa, where sexual harassment is killing quality of education. Amid revela­tions that the reported sexual abuse was just the tip of the ice­berg researchers noted bullying and corporal punishment also hindered schooling in most coun­tries.

RAPES

Quoting studies carried in var­ious countries, Learn with out Fear. noted that about 10 per cent of all 16 and 17-year-old school­girls in Uganda had sex with their teachers, while in South Africa, about a third of all child rapes are by school teachers. "Some girls are coerced into sexual acts by teach­ers who threaten them with poor grades if they do not cooperate," says the report that was re­leased last month.

ENDEMIC ABUSE OF GIRLS·

Girls are more likely to be victims of explicit sexual violence, including sexual harassment, intimidation, abuse, assault and rape than boys.

Victims of sexual abuse become under achievers and are likely to drop out of school. They are also at risk of unwanted pregnancies and contracting sexually transmitted infections including HIV/Aids.

Unfortunately, sexual abuse in most African countries is seen as part of school life and school in­spectors are often reluctant to tackle the problem or bring the culprits to justice. "In Ghana, Ma­lawi and Zimbabwe, sexual abuse of schoolgirls by male teachers or sugar-daddies is part of a wider problem of school-based vio­lence," says Dr Fiona Leach, a se­nior educational researcher at the University of Sussex.