No recourse for school sex abuse victims
Sexual abuse is making schools an unsafe place and preventing victims from fulfilling their ambitions, a report says.
|||Pretoria - Sexual abuse was making schools an unsafe place to be and preventing an overwhelming majority of victims from fulfilling their educational ambitions.
A report by the Department of Basic Education said this unlawful act suffocated dreams and reduced the school experience for victims to a battle for survival rather than academic achievement.
The situation was worse when the abuse was combined with violence and criminal behaviour like bullying, substance abuse, verbal abuse, racism, gangsterism, guns and other weapons, vandalism and a host of other anti-social behaviour.
The report also found that an overwhelming majority of victims were girls, who often failed to fulfil their ambitions as a result of their ordeal.
“We are concerned particularly about the long-term effects on children who are victims of abuse and who see no worth in reporting it,” the report said.
That very worry has the mother of a Hammanskraal teenager anxious and unable to concentrate at work until her child gets back from school every day.
“I worry that they will wait along the way and harm her,” she said.
The 15-year-old Alfred Maubane Secondary School pupil was violated by three boys in a classroom that she and three other classmates were cleaning.
The boys allegedly went in, grabbed her hands and held them behind her back. They started groping and fondling her breasts, body and thighs.
The other two girls raised the alarm, management was notified and a communiqué was sent inviting the parents of the girl and the boys to a meeting at the school the following day.
“I went there but none of the other parents pitched,” she said. She learnt that all three boys were troublesome, with one of them recently returning to school from suspension.
When the parents of the boys failed to turn up for another meeting the following day, the principal served the boys with letters of suspension.
“But they were back at school and in class on Friday and Monday,” the mother said.
Her major concern was for the safety of her girl in the face of defiance by the alleged perpetrators, especially after they mentioned that suspension did not worry them because all it meant was a few days away from school.
“They tried to abuse her on the school grounds already; what will stop them from waylaying her between school and home?” the mom added.
That the boys had come to school, sat in class and not been removed despite their suspension was particularly worrying, she said.
“It is a clear indication of their disregard for authority,” she said.
The mother said the boys would have surely raped her child if no one had acted quickly. “What will they do when they know there is no one to stop them from having their way on and off the school grounds?”
Social worker Mandisa Leope said: “This child survived a very traumatic experience and instead of being comforted, she’ll have to fight off secondary victimisation from knowing the boys have not been punished for what they did to her.”
Leope said it was the small things that meant a life of fear, or one of confidence in support structures.
If authorities were seen to be handling her case, it could be the latter, she added.
The North West Department of Education said it had started an investigation into the occurrence and handling of the incident.
Police had also invited the parents of the girl to open a case against the young men.
The UN Children’s Education Fund said in its report that unequal power relations were still prevalent in the country.
These promoted notions of male sexual entitlement and often led to abuse without fear of its consequences.
“The consequences of sexual abuse on boys and girls can be severe, and may include post traumatic stress disorder symptoms, depression, suicidal notions and attempts and inappropriate sexualised behaviour,” the report stated.
ntando.makhubu@inl.co.za
Pretoria News