- Different research findings conducted by the Action Aid and the British DIFD has shown that 65 % girls and only 35% for boys undergo different forms of violence, which is forcing them out of school.
Julita Nsanjama Education Coordinator for Action Aid told The Chronicle in an interview last week that the research established that touching of their private parts was the most commonest of forms of violence while other forms are rape, verbal abuse, beating, bullying, corporal punishment which is rampant both at school and in their homes.
"The violence has heavily impacted on girls education that 38% of them were seriously affected in their education psychologically and otherwise and anger that welled up in them as a result contributed to their lack of concentration in class which in turn reduced their performance before dropping out eventually," she explained.
Nsanjama who was at the centre of dissemination conference in Lilongwe which pooled together teachers, Primary School Education Advisors (PEAS), District Education Managers (DEMs), the Teachers Union of Malawi (TUM) officials and the police said 3.2% of them dropped out while 40.7% risked of contracting HIV/AIDS and 8% got pregnant.
She said the research which trying to determine the prevalence of the violence against girls in education, identifying spaces where violence takes place, understanding the forms of violence and mapping out strategies undertaken by various organizations discovered that at 60.9% homes, is where the girls are highly abused as compared to 17.9% in schools.
Other places that this violence takes place is on the way to and from school which is at 12%, market, river, maize mill at 4% and even at religious functions which has 3.2% share of violence to girls.
Although more violence is done in homes fellow older male pupils were the highest perpetrators at 50%, while unknown persons at 8 percent were second. Teachers and relatives at 5.4 percent respectively are the other perpetrators.
"Over 50% of the cases are reported due to lack of action taken on reported cases by authorities and parents, fear of the consequences, lack of reporting structures or because some violence is done by parents and that some girls do not know that such acts are abusive," she said.
Despite numerous organisations working for the same she said there was no success in curbing the problem because there is no coordination as a result of disjointed efforts which are also only directed awareness campaigns only.
She said that the other contributing factor was inadequate enforcement of policies and procedures within the government system, unclear laws protecting the girl child against abuse like in the instance where a 40-year-old man who defiled 4 girls of between the ages of 8 and 12 was only charged with 4 years only as a custodial sentence.
Noel Mlowoka Kayira who heads the Malawi Police Service's Child Protection Desk told The Chronicle in a separate interview that despite a number of challenges on the legal instruments put in place to protect rights of all the people they were stepping up gear to eradicate violence against girls completely.
"This is why the police service which is a key stakeholder in terms of implementation of the law and the international instruments on human rights has decided to designate a special desk to look at the welfare of children's rights," he said.
He said the desk is there to look after both the child offender and the child victim and currently the desk is busy handling cases of defilement, child trafficking, child prostitution and pornography as well as civil issues of forced marriages and violence perpetrated by boys and teachers.
"It is a pity that countrywide, almost everyday we have to deal with cases of that have to do with the violation of the rights of children," he said. Mlowoka Kayira therefore encouraged all the bearers and the girls to go to police stations across the country to report on the cases of all forms of violence including incest and defilement.
"They should not feel ashamed to report these cases because of the stigma it is attached with. We will treat the cases with utmost confidentiality and if need be we will accommodate the victims through our victims support units in all our stations," he
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