Zambia: Child Sexual Abuse on the Rise

By Lilian Museka

In 2006, a girl aged 13 was sexually abused by her teacher at a known school in Lusaka, Zambia. The minor and her guardian sued the teacher, along with the school and the Ministry of Education in Zambia.

On June 30th, 2008, the presiding Judge, Philip Musonda delivered a judgment in the High Court of Zambia in which the victim was awarded K45 million (about $13 000) as compensation.

In his ruling Judge Musonda, said it was the responsibility of the government to care for all school going children through its agents (teachers and school authorities), when schools are in session.

The case was hailed both locally and internationally as one of the landmark judgment ruling by the judge who held the government liable for violating the child’s rights and was asked to pay for the damages.

The story generated a lot of interests from different international human rights organizations who followed with keen interest in a bid to document violence and discrimination against women. This was geared towards mobilizing international action to support efforts in the country to stop these abuses.

Equality Now, an organization that advocates for humans rights, saw this case as an appropriate advocacy tool for effecting the necessary change in Zambia, through funding from UN trust Fund, convened and strategized with various civil society organizations in Zambia to develop a programme to address violence against girls by teachers.

Although the problem of sexual abuse of adolescent girls in Zambia has been growing at a very frightening rate, it is gratifying to note that there has also been a growing recognition of the need to safeguard the rights of adolescent girls and to ensure that interventions are centred on the concerns of these girls.

The abuse is a global public health concern. The magnitude of the problem in the African region is not known, and information from authoritative studies is scarce. World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that globally, some 40 million children aged 0‐14 years suffer some form of abuse and neglect requiring health and social care.

In definition, Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) is the involvement of a child in sexual activity that he or she does not fully comprehend, is unable to give informed consent to, or for which the child is not developmentally prepared and cannot give consent. “It is a cruel and tragic occurrence and a serious infringement of a child’s rights to health and protection,” Says Zambia’s Minister of Education Ms Dora Siliya.

In her address to a recent journalist workshop, organized by Zambia Media Women Association (ZAMWA) in Lusaka, Siliya directed all teachers to stop conducting tuitions with pupils in their homes, saying the move had resulted in increased sexual abuse among girls.

“The Ministry of Education has recorded 16 cases of sexual abuse by some male teachers countrywide from January to August this year, resulting in unwanted pregnancies,” she added.

The minister noted that some male teachers were taking advantage to offer tuition to students from homes while with motives of luring them in sexual activities. She directed all Provincial Education Officers (PEOs) and District Education Board Secretaries (DEBS) to ensure the directive was adhered to.

The move was received well around the country but the challenge came in how implementation would be done.

Secondary School Teachers Union of Zambia (SESTUZ) Deputy General Secretary Mr. Emmanuel Zulu however said that it would be challenging to enforce the directive as the Ministry of Education lacked necessary structures to uplift the education standards in the country.

“As much as the reasons of banning home tuitions may be valid because of the possible abuse of girls, the real problem is that it will be very difficult to effect. My question is what modalities will the government put in place?” he asked.

However, Zulu said though from a moral point of view, the ban was good, teachers were using the home tuitions to make an additional income from the meager salaries they received.

“From the moral point of view it is good, but teachers use tuitions to try to raise funds for themselves. Actually, home tuitions are some of the income generating activities for teachers. Imagine, how can a teacher who is getting K350, 000 as housing allowance manage to rent a house costing as high as K 750, 000 survive?” he said.

Zulu observed that the prevailing high levels of poverty have made home tuitions to be widespread.
“The only solution to this problem is that the government should improve teachers’ conditions of service,” said Zulu.

However, in response the minister said poverty and economic hardships should not be a blame for young girls in schools to be abused by teachers because they needed help to acquire education.

During the media training, designed to increase the capacity of journalists to report on issues of sexual violence against girls, the Coordinator of “Tisunge Ana Athu Akazi Coalition (TAAAC) which is translated to “Let us Protect our Girl Child”, Ms Shupe Makashinyi acknowledge that the topic required constant and consistent media coverage.

“Sexual violence is a gross violation of children’s rights that lead to various problems ranging from physical to psychological,” she said adding that there was limited information and statistics on the extent of the problem in developing countries.