By Phyllis Kachere and Kundai Shumba
MORE Zimbabwean high school boys than girls are reportedly engaging in sexual activities with their teachers in exchange for favours, recent research by the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare has revealed. These initial findings of a study on adolescent sexual reproductive health, commissioned by the Southern Africa HIV/Aids Information Dissemination Services (SAfAIDS), established that while efforts had been concentrated on “saving” the girl child, the boy child has become the “open target” of sexual predators in schools.
Last year, several boys at Goromonzi High School were found to be evading school authorities and having sex with prostitutes from the nearby Majuru township.
The favours, noted the research, mostly centred on passing examinations and were not only confined to schools but extended to tertiary education.
These preliminary findings were made public last week during the launch of the “Scaling up access to sexual and reproductive health and rights for adolescents and young people” project by SAfAIDS in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, Women’s Action Group (Wag), Padare/Enkundleni, SayWhat and Patsime Trust.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail last week, SAfAIDS country representative Mrs Monica Mandiki said the findings had exposed the gaps in the provision of reproductive health information and services to the youths. Although there were no immediate statistics on the trend, Mrs Mandiki confirmed a worrying increase in the number of boys having sex with their teachers.
“Of the 1 200 pupils interviewed, 7 percent confirmed they had had sex with their teacher in exchange of favours and the majority of this 7 percent were boys.
“Efforts have been concentrated on the girl child with the mistaken belief that she was more vulnerable than the boy. Now, findings suggest the boy is in a worse off situation,” said Mrs Mandiki.
The findings also confirmed the increase of teenage pregnancy in schools.
Last year, 15 girls under the age of 16 dropped out of school at Chivhanga Secondary School in Honde Valley after they fell pregnant.
The report also noted that despite proof that school children were having sex as evidenced by increased school girl pregnancies and expulsions, headmasters interviewed generally objected to any information on condoms, sexually transmitted infections and contraceptives to filter into their schools.
The interviewed school heads were of the belief that provision of this information would encourage promiscuity and experimentation by pupils.
Only four out of 32 school heads interviewed (13%) were willing to have condoms distributed at their schools.
It has been found that critical shortage of manpower trained in adolescent sexual reproductive health issues made it difficult to implement policy meaningfully at health centres.
For instance, the Midlands Province’s health facilities were all supposed to offer youth-friendly services.
“In all 45 nurses were trained to support youth-friendly services in 2010. All of them have left the public service except three,” noted the report.
While life skills were dealt with during Education for Living at schools, there was hardly focus on sexual issues and the subject was never taken seriously since it was non-examinable, said the report.
(File Picture)
Last year, several boys at Goromonzi High School were found to be evading school authorities and having sex with prostitutes from the nearby Majuru township.
The favours, noted the research, mostly centred on passing examinations and were not only confined to schools but extended to tertiary education.
These preliminary findings were made public last week during the launch of the “Scaling up access to sexual and reproductive health and rights for adolescents and young people” project by SAfAIDS in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, Women’s Action Group (Wag), Padare/Enkundleni, SayWhat and Patsime Trust.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail last week, SAfAIDS country representative Mrs Monica Mandiki said the findings had exposed the gaps in the provision of reproductive health information and services to the youths. Although there were no immediate statistics on the trend, Mrs Mandiki confirmed a worrying increase in the number of boys having sex with their teachers.
“Of the 1 200 pupils interviewed, 7 percent confirmed they had had sex with their teacher in exchange of favours and the majority of this 7 percent were boys.
“Efforts have been concentrated on the girl child with the mistaken belief that she was more vulnerable than the boy. Now, findings suggest the boy is in a worse off situation,” said Mrs Mandiki.
The findings also confirmed the increase of teenage pregnancy in schools.
Last year, 15 girls under the age of 16 dropped out of school at Chivhanga Secondary School in Honde Valley after they fell pregnant.
The report also noted that despite proof that school children were having sex as evidenced by increased school girl pregnancies and expulsions, headmasters interviewed generally objected to any information on condoms, sexually transmitted infections and contraceptives to filter into their schools.
The interviewed school heads were of the belief that provision of this information would encourage promiscuity and experimentation by pupils.
Only four out of 32 school heads interviewed (13%) were willing to have condoms distributed at their schools.
It has been found that critical shortage of manpower trained in adolescent sexual reproductive health issues made it difficult to implement policy meaningfully at health centres.
For instance, the Midlands Province’s health facilities were all supposed to offer youth-friendly services.
“In all 45 nurses were trained to support youth-friendly services in 2010. All of them have left the public service except three,” noted the report.
While life skills were dealt with during Education for Living at schools, there was hardly focus on sexual issues and the subject was never taken seriously since it was non-examinable, said the report.
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