Anele Maolombane looks at sexual harassment of girl learners in schools and how the practice can be stopped.
There is a fundamental problem of safety and security in our schools. Girl learners are not protected from sexual abuse. The school governing bodies are failing to protect the girl learners in schools. Policies such as Circular
13 about simply locking the school gates show no concern for the students. This locking of gates is just an example of how girl learners are put in danger.
Girl learners are at risk of sexual harassment on a daily basis. Harassment can happen on the way to school and even within the school premises. The amount of harassment is increasing, particularly at schools. In March 2003 there was a serious case of harassment in Alexander, where a gang of 16 boys took a girl out of the class during school hours. The thugs jumped over the wall, kidnapped this girl learner and raped her.
The school never took any action about what happened to the learner. Students boycotted classes for almost a week, while they assisted the police to look for the boys. Ten of these boys were arrested but six of them are still on the run. The raped girl learner had to quit school after the incident because her life and safety were at risk.
Another concern is the continuing harassment of mostly girl learners by teachers, who use their authority to pressure girls into sexual relationships, threatening to fail or isolate them should they speak out. The education department has been very silent regarding these issues. No educational programmes have been provided to assist victims of such acts, and there are no proper policy measures in place to deal with such violations.
Another case is of a girl learner who was raped by a teacher after lessons. The matter was reported to the authorities but the school did not address the issue. The school’s response was that there was no proof that the girl had been raped. The teacher took advantage of the situation and threatened her. Because there was no serious action taken against the teacher, the girl learner decided to leave the school.
THE ROLE OF THE RCLS IN SCHOOLS
The Representative Councils of Learners (RCLs) are part of the school and they exist to ensure the smooth running of the school. The RCLs are failing to protect girl learners against any form of harassment. They seem to be in school just to make sure that there is order and that parents pay their fees. Teachers are not playing the role of protecting learners. In fact, they are the ones abusing girl learners.
The South African constitution states clearly that every child has the right to basic education and that every child has the right to be protected from maltreatment, neglect and abuse. We must defend these rights. Every learner deserves to have a chance to learn or to be taught and not to be violated. What is needed is to assist learners, especially girl learners, to stand up for themselves and not to be demoralised.
WAY FORWARD
In our schools we have asked the RCLs to meet and discuss a way of addressing the issue of child abuse. We also need to make our parents and the broader community aware of the problem of child abuse. We cannot allow the Department of Education to continue implementing Circular 13 as this puts the lives of girl learners at risk.
Anele Maolombane is a member of AVCC in Alexandra and is the co- ordinator of the APF education sub- committee
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