Pretoria - Almost 50% of Gauteng and Limpopo schoolgirls surveyed in a sexual violence study have been forced to have sex, with one in every five of them having been pressured into it by their teachers.
The girls, aged 13 to 18, said 44% of the perpetrators were boys, older pupils and school drop-outs; 16% said the men were older/sugar daddies; while 5% blamed family members for sexual assault.
ActionAid SA and partner organisations released the key findings of the sexual violence in a Schools Baseline Study from last year. The study found that more girls reported assault to their families than to the police, social workers or school principals.
“Nine percent of the girls admitted to being raped, while we found 33% who had been raped from one school,” the report said.
The survey was conducted by the organisation which seeks to empower girls in their fight against sexual violence in the school environment.
Schools from Limpopo and Gauteng have been the focus of the two-year-old programme to create a charter to arm young girls against abuse and the repercussions from it.
A draft charter was produced from a three-day conference attended by 264 girls from 12 schools, stakeholder organisations, mentors and educators in Pretoria this week.
“The charter will be used to raise awareness in schools and communities and to inform the government of the expectations of the young people,” ActionAid SA’s Michelle Festus said.
Partners ActionAid, the Teddy Bear Clinic, the Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Programme and children services organisation Xiholobo took the girls through several steps during the conference, allowing them to open up, and to talk of their fears and pain, said Festus.
The resounding theme through the conference was asking what they had done to deserve such cruelty.
“Senzeni na reverberated throughout (the conference venue), and this is an indication that they are taking a lot of responsibility. That needs to be addressed,” Festus said.
It was the complicity of society that led to the abuse faced by girls in schools and their communities, more so because perpetrators were people they knew.
Pregnancy and suicide had also been high on the topics at the conference, said Festus, and in the study conducted among schoolgirls 56% said they would consider abortion if pregnant.
Eight percent said they would commit suicide. Also, only 8% said they would keep the baby.
And while 10% of girls from Limpopo said they would drop out of school if they fell pregnant, only 1% of the Gauteng girls said they would drop out from school.
“Some 80% of Gauteng schoolgirls and 28% from Limpopo admitted to engaging in sexual activity,” said the report.
More than half said sexual activities were with partners; 15% with older men; while 3% said it was teachers with whom they had sexual relations.
Attitudes had to change, Festus said.
“There is still a lot of work to be done, and once the charter is out everyone will know their role as expected by the girls.”
The charter would speak to girls and boys, men and women; it would address schools and their governing bodies, communities and government, she said.
The conference was the second in a five-year project.
Festus said the number of participating schools would rise to 18 by the end of next year.
The draft charter would go through the processes and be finalised. It would be translated into the languages of the girls and then shared widely, she said.