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Majority
of Students Molested By Teachers in Botswana
By Caitlin Davies,
Inter Press Service
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 GABORONE,
Apr 4 (IPS) - New research suggests 60 percent of secondary
school students in Botswana are abused by their teachers --
shocking figures anywhere, but particularly so in southern Africa's
most peaceful and admired country. |
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The government has, since independence in 1966, placed great
emphasis on the value of education. Access to schooling is regarded
as a basic human right and a major contributor to economic growth
and social progress. |
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The vast majority of children receive 10 years of fee basic
education. But today at least 11 percent of students - mainly
girls -- are considering dropping out of school because of sexual
harassment. |
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From 1986 to 1997, girls made up about 52 percent of students
at secondary level. In recent years this has been declining
and it is feared that the increase in sexual abuse is partly
to blame.
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According to researcher, Stefania Rossetti, sexual harassment
by teachers and consensual sexual relations between teachers
and students is more widespread than most schools care to admit.
In a just published document called 'Children in school: a safe
place?', she describes the situation in the North-West district
as grim. |
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In a survey of 560 students, 67 percent said they had been
subjected to, among other things, unsolicited touching, patting
or pinching and pressure for dates. A quarter said they had
been subjected to such harassment on a regular basis.
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Twenty percent said they had been asked by teachers to have
sex with them. Almost half (42 percent) of these accepted, mainly
because they feared lower grades if they refused. |
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The vast majority of students believe that having a sexual relationship
with their teachers is wrong. They say students lose concentration,
fail exams and end up on the streets. They also worry about
pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases such as the HIV
virus. Botswana currently has among the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence
rates in the world, now standing at 25 percent. In Rossetti's
survey, an average of 11 percent of students said they wanted
to quit school because a teacher had asked for sexual favours.
Among those in Form One, the first year of secondary school,
17 percent said they were ready to opt out. |
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Although violence against women is publicly condemned at the
highest level, sexual harassment remains one of its most acceptable
forms. Many men think it is a way to ''soften women'' who they
believe enjoy the ''attention''. And while the government has
signed numerous international agreements that condemn violence
against women, the effects of these are still to trickle down
to the grassroots. |
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New gender policies, such as the 1995 Policy on Women in Development,
are yet to be implemented. Produced by the Women's Affairs Unit,
it noted increasing sexual harassment in schools and described
the situation as life threatening due to the rapid spread of
HIV. |
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The country's code of conduct for teachers, produced in 1974
and never reviewed, is silent on the matter of sexual harassment
or consensual sexual relations. The Ministry of Education has
no policy in place. |
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There is also no procedure for lodging complaints within schools
themselves. Under Botswana's centralised education system, reporting
a case of sexual harassment would mean travelling up to hundreds
of kilometers to the nearest regional education office. The
matter, if followed up, would then be reported to the Teacher
Service Management in the capital Gaborone. For schools in the
North-West district this would mean a journey of at least 1,000
kms. |
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Students generally believe it is more risky to report a teacher,
than if they stay quiet. According to Rossetti, sexual harassment
in schools is ''essentially an unreported crime''. Head teachers
are nervous about allowing outsiders into their schools, fearing
they will become targets of ''witch hunts''. |
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Until now there has been virtually no research on the topic
and the authorities, both local and central, have reacted defensively
to reports in the press. Many students see harassment as an
inevitable part of school life and many teachers have come to
believe it is behaviour they can get away with. |
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In some cases guilty teachers are simply warned not to do it
again, others are transferred to another school where the practice
continues. |
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Until recently the Ministry of Education had been accused of
ignoring calls to intervene in schools. Botswana's only rape
crisis centre, situated in the north, had been attempting to
meet with the former minister to discuss the issue for several
years. |
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Things are looking up, however, with the appointment of a new
minister, Ponatshego Kedikilwe, following last year's general
elections. The Ministry's secondary schools department is now
in the process of consulting with women's and human rights NGOs
on a policy covering sexual harassment. |
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In addition, the plan is to produce a step-by-step procedure
for lodging complaints within schools and amend the teachers
code of conduct to provide the protection students so sorely
need. |
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This article
is free of copyright restrictions and can be reproduced provided
that Inter Press Service is credited. |
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