Mozambique: Teacher-student sexual harassment in schools keeps targeting girls – Rádio Encontro de Nampula

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Teacher-student sexual harassment in schools keeps targeting girls – Rádio Encontro de Nampula

7:34 CAT | 31 May 2021

Photo: Rádio Encontro de Nampula

Sisters of various religious orders in Nampula have condemned the behaviour of teachers who sexually harass their female students.

In an interview with Rádio Encontro this Thursday, the sisters said that they had knowledge of teachers who regularly solicit their students without fear of consequences.

The sisters say that the most vulnerable are girls from economically disadvantaged families, who perpetrators target because they have no voice.

Sister Maria said that this behaviour was repeated often, especially in training institutions, where obtaining a good report necessarily meant trainees submitting to teachers or risking failure.

“The situation is worrying to the point that we don’t know where we are going with this situation,” Sister Maria said, beseeching the authorities to take note of sexual harassment in schools.

Sister Verónica Ferreira, a Claretian missionary, says that if existing laws were enforced, those who commit such infractions would not remain unpunished, since bodies competent to punish people who violate the law do exist.

A lack of professional ethics is one of the major causes of relationships between teacher and students such as the law forbids, she says.

Speaking off the record for fear of reprisals, some girls told Rádio Encontro of teachers practicing this behaviour, to the great concerns of students crying out for help from the competent authorities.

By Malito João

Source: Rádio Encontro de Nampula