   |
|
WFS, 11 December - Not very long ago, a teacher in Zambia was considered a role model. Students not only looked up to their teachers but also treated them with the same respect as they did their parents. All this, however, has now changed with more and more reports coming in about how male teachers are physically and sexually abusing girl students, some as young as 13 years old. And there have also been cases where young girls have become pregnant because of this sexual abuse by their teachers. The situation is worse in the rural areas of the country where girls consider it a matter of prestige and honour to go out with their male teachers. The teachers, some of them from urban areas, know this and take advantage of this fact. Moreover, they also tempt the girls to sleep with them - promising them higher grades and revealing the examination papers in advance. Most of these promises are, however, hardly met and the girls end up being sexually abused. At times, when these girls get pregnant they are also expelled from schools. And it is only the girls who have to pay a price for the behaviour of male teachers. While the girls have to go home to nurse their babies, the teachers continue with their lives as though they are not responsible for anything. No action is taken against them and they continue to sexually abuse other girl students. After several complaints from parents, the Teaching Service Commission has woken up to this problem. But despite all the research done by the Commission, no figures are available about how many girls have been sexually abused and how many have become pregnant over the last few years. The only thing that the Teaching Service Commission admits to is that it is aware of the problem but it cannot provide any reasons for why or how it has become so widespread. Last year, the Commission sacked 11 teachers for flirting with students, physically abusing them and also making them pregnant. According to Alexina Kakubo, Secretary of the Commission, although the number of teachers sacked may seem less as compared to the high number of girls abused, this is just the beginning and more action would be taken soon. Independent studies by the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) in Kitwe, which has received a series of complaints from girls being abused by their teachers, show that there are hundreds of such cases brought to their notice every year. And local court officials in Kitwe add that scores of damage cases are held every day in the lower courts across the country concerning teachers sexually abusing their students. "It is such a sorry sight because a guilty teacher is only asked to pay a small fine to the girl's family. Often the teachers also promise to marry the girls after the babies are born but few of them actually stick to their promise, which they use merely as an escape route from the court cases," says a court official. According to experts, what is really needed to control this situation is serious action on the part of the Teaching Service Commission. They add that the licences of these teachers should be revoked so that they can never teach again, including in private schools where teachers are always welcomed. At the same time, the courts also need to realise that teachers hardly ever keep their promises of marrying girls when the children are born so they should be made to pay huge fines to the girl. And those teachers who do not pay the fines should be imprisoned. Some others are also recommending legal support for children born out of such associations. - Of course with the new law which allows pregnant girls to go back to school, it seems that they have a second chance to improve their lives, says Kakubo. "But this should not be taken to mean that the guilty teachers are not punished," says Kakubo, adding that some of the measures being put in place by the Commission include banning of private tuitions between male teachers and female pupils in the teachers' homes. Instead, these classes should be held in groups and in the open. And teachers shielding others too will be punished. Only stern action and social consciousness can ensure that girl students are safe at school and obtain what a school should provide - education.
By Beatrice Fonseka, Women's Feature Service (WFS)
|
