Prime
Counter culture of silence on sexual harassment
What you need to know:
The issue: Sexual harassment.
Our view: A comprehensive inquiry across all schools and higher institutions of learning should be undertaken to determine the scale of sexual harassment in schools.
A brave Senior Two student of Wamala Mixed Secondary School in Mpigi has accused the director of the school of sexually abusing her. We call her brave because out of the so many victims across the country, she has come out to tell the sordid details of her story.
Her account about a man who leads an institution supposed to nurture and protect her are alarming and shocking but only to those shielded from the reality. It is not news that sexual harassment in schools and universities is alive and rife. The question is about what we are doing about it and the culture that supports it.
Harassment and abuse of, especially, girls in schools has been accepted as part of daily life. It ranges from unwanted sexual touching, use of inappropriate language, groping to defilement and rape as, for example, alleged in the Wamala school case.
It is not surprising that when a director of a powerful private secondary school empire died sometimes back, most of the young women paraded and said to have sired children with him were at one time his students.
Such perpetrators, and they are many, remain powerful even after their death because of the culture that empowers them. Many former students in the schools owned by the aforementioned director spoke in hush tones about the sexual crimes committed by the man for which he never answered.
Several other officials in both private and public institutions of learning and schools have been accused with many relying on their deep pockets, connections to authorities to get away with their heinous crimes.
The research in this field is limited and the culture of silence and silencing victims is very powerful long after the crimes have been committed. Our view is that a comprehensive inquiry across all schools and higher institutions of learning should be undertaken to determine the scale of sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools. This will inform actions to be taken.
Most victims of sexual harassment face a unique dilemma when it comes to reporting it. They are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. As such, most victims choose silence and most harassment cases go unreported.
The children of this country, right from kindergarten to university, must be protected from sexually predatory behaviour. In cases where they fall victim, there should be avenues for them to freely speak out but most importantly for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.
We need to empower and support them and integrate prevention and mitigation within and across schools and universities and enact and enforce laws to prevent it.
