A study on the abuse of girls in some basic schools in the Central Region has revealed that in only one school, about 95 percent of the girls in primary six have been sexually abused by their male teacher.
Mrs Vivian Fiscian, a research consultant, who undertook the study as part of an investigation into the abuse of girls in primary and junior secondary schools in three African countries; Ghana, Zimbabwe and Malawi, announced at an awareness durbar on the abuse of girls in schools, at Besease near Komenda on Thursday.
The study was conducted by the Institute of Education, University of Sussex in the United Kingdom. The durbar was aimed at exposing the public to serious human rights issues confronting school girls and girls in general, in other sections of the society, and to find collective ways of combating them.
Mrs Fiscian, who declined to name the school concerned, said the research also revealed that the abuse of girls in the region was widespread, especially in the rural areas, and took the form of aggressive sexual behaviour, intimidation, bullying and physical assault by older boys and sexual harassment by the male teachers.
She expressed regret that the girls however fail to report such abuses for fear of victimisation, stigmatisation and ridicule and that their failure to do so has created “conducive grounds” for the perpetrators to continue their activities.
Mrs Fiscian, deplored the attitude of school authorities about such reports, adding that very often, the girl is rather blamed or reprimanded and that the situation has “flourished unchecked, making the school a safe haven rather than an arena against abuse.”
Mrs Fiscian said in situations where official complaints are lodged, the authorities concerned often fail to discipline the perpetrators, and even when punishment is meted out, it is not deterrent enough.
She appealed to parents to have time and listen to their girls when they report such issues to them, and to discourage the settlement of such cases at home.
