Sexual abuse of school girls by teachers in selected secondary schools in Lusaka district.

This study sought to gain insight into the phenomenon of sexual abuse/harassment of school girls by male teachers using the lived experiences of affected girls in selected schools in Lusaka District, Zambia. The objectives of the study were, to identify the nature of the sexual abuse of school girls by male teachers; to explore avenues open to pupils to report teachers’ sexual misconduct and to establish the psychosocial effects of the sexual abuse/harassment on the affected school girls.
Phenomenological research design was employed in this study to gain insight in real lived experiences of sexual abuse/harassment of school girls in terms of the nature of the sexual abuse/harassment of school girls by male teachers, the avenues in place for reporting the sexual misconduct of teachers and the psychosocial effects of the abuse of the abuse of the affected school girls.
Purposive sampling was used to select the two secondary schools in Lusaka District, while snowball was used to select the six affected school girls and simple random sampling was used in the selection of the small focused discussion group.
Interview and focus group guides were used to gather the views of the affected school girls, the focused group discussions and their school counsellors.
The study established that sexual abuse and harassment of school girls by male teachers was common and widespread and that the nature of the abuse manifested as inappropriate relationships between teachers and school girls which involved actual force or coerced sexual intercourse. School girls were in some cases taken to night club and plied with alcohol or drugs before having sexual intercourse with them. The non-penetrative sexual contact included fondling of girls’ breasts, kissing, touching buttocks and the use of highly sexualized language. The coerced sexual abuse involved transaction sex where teachers bargained for sexual favours in exchange of gifts, money, better marks and special treatment in class. The school girls who spurned teachers’ sexual advances were unfairly treated ignored or punished in class and given bad marks or failed in examinations and given undeserved negative end of term report.
The study also established that cases of sexual abuse/harassment were rarely reported due to intimidation, punishment and fear of being given a negative report and in cases were sexual abuses or harassment were reported, school administrators trivialized such incidences to protect the reputation of the school.
The psychosocial effect on the affected school girls included anxiety, fear, low self-esteem, shame, humiliation and mental anguish which led to decreased class participation, school absenteeism and drop out. The negatives emotions impacted the affected school girls in their mental, health and social well-being and curtailed their educational achievements and progress.
To help curb some of these incidences of sexual abuses and harassment of school girls by male teachers, schools should hold regular sensitization programmes to raise awareness among teachers and pupils on the problem of sexual abuse and harassment, pamphlets on the effects of sexual abuse on pupils should also be handed out on a regular basis and the Government through the Ministry of Education, should come up with a national policy on sexual abuse and harassment of school pupils which should be clear and easy to understand and interpret. The policy once in place, should be distributed to teachers, PTAs, pupils and all stakeholders.