A campaign has been launched in Ghana to end sex abuse in schools after series of media reports over the past six months detailing horrific experiences of students who are harassed and molested sexually by their teachers.
A Coalition Against Sexual Abuse (CASA) on Thursday announced the launch of the campaign called “STOP SEX ABUSE in SCHOOLS!”
The group in a statement said the campaign is to encourage people to report cases to help in dealing with such issues.
Students especially females according to the coalition are sexually abused by their teachers in exchange for grades and other favours.
It said ‘If You See Something, Say Something’, referring to “Wo hu biribi a Ka Biribi,” which is the slogan for the campaign in the local Ghanaian Akan dialect.
This year-long campaign according to organizers of the campaign will help “to engage girls, boys; women and men to break their silence about sex abuse in schools”.
Focus will also be placed on “teachers who sexually harass” their students and “ensure they are sanctioned and their behaviour condemned leading to safety in our schools and a change in the upward spiralling reports on sexual abuse in schools.”
The elements of this campaign:-
- See Something, Say Something – break your silence
- Allegation must be followed by fair and thorough investigation without intimidation
- Sanction teachers who sexually abuse, harass, extort sex in exchange for grades
- Strengthen GES code that condemns teachers who sexually harass
- Stop them from teaching, don’t just move them to another school
- Sex Offenders Registry with guilty teachers names
Activists against sexual abuse in schools in Ghana have said that refusing to push through with this latest campaign will only derail the education of school girls and create discomfort for them in schools.
Source: Africafeeds.com
