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MAIL & GUARDIAN Friday, 12 November 2010, p. 16 Schoolgirlssuffer in silence Bill of Rights notwithstanding, gender-based violence at schools is as prevalent as ever Tarryn Harbour female grade eight learners at the Jules High School, where the alleged outh Africans were outraged gang rape took place. to hear that a grade We think its her fault, they eight learner was allegedly said of the alleged victim. She was drugged and gang drunk. 5 raped while her classmates Two grade 10 boys at the school stood around and filmed it were more concerned about the damage on their celiphones and that the being done to the schools name police delayed the arrest of the boys than whether the girl had been raped because they didnt want to disrupt or not. their exams. But gender-based violence I think she was enjoying herself is endemic to South Mrican the way she was acting, said one. schools and has been for many years. They were both there when the In 2001 Human Rights Watch incident took place. (HRW) released, Scared at school, It was like watching soccer, the an extensive report that examined other added. sexual violence committed against Many reports have been written girls in South African schools. It on the subject since Scared at found that many were subjected school was published, but the situation to some form of violence rape, today remains much the same abuse, harassment and assault as in 2001, according to a group of and that this was an inevitable researchers who presented a paper part of the school environment. on gender and violence in South African The report also cited a study in the schools at the United Nations Gauteng area which found that eight Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI) Jules High School in Johannesburg, where the alleged gang rape took place. Photo: Oupa Nkosi in 10 young men believed women were conference on education and equality responsiblefor causing sexual violence in May this year. But the lack of a comprehensive contradictionsand one of these is the gap equality, freedom and a safe environment in 10 and three thought women who The climate is far less hopeful national survey on gender-based violence between the progressive legislation are enshrined in the Bill for it. were raped had asked than one would imagine would be in schools meant it was impossible put in place to protect women and of Rights. This kind of thinking about victims the case after a decade of dedicated to say exactly how widespread girls and the reality of the daily expenence We have a wonderful Constitution of sexual violence also occurs among scholarship and advocacy, the the problem was. of violence and harassment of and one of the best bills of rights in girls and women, according to two researchers wrote. It seems that were just lurching many women, wrote the researchers the world, Prinsloo said. But, while from crisis to crisis,Lisa Vetten, the at the UNGEI conference. its wonderful on paper, I think that director of Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Behind the gender-parity policies, everyone should make it part of their Centre, said. Something like Megabucks mystery schoolgirlswere still negatively lives and live what it says. Every this happens, everyone runs around affected by discrimination, they scho& has two very important constitutional shouting, then we forget about it. wrote. This could be attributed duties to provide a quality In budget at his speech the from where primary school children This case is an example of a much to, among other things, long-held education and to ensure a safe school beginning of the year Pravin play, unsupervised. bigger problem. patriarchal attitudes, the violent environment Gordhan, the finance minister, Teenagers loiter on corners, the Joan van Niekerk, the manager of legacy of apartheid, social attitudes Many researchers felt that the violence announced that education boys checking out the girls, the training and advocacy for Childline to women and girls, and a lack in schools would not change would be the governmentstop girls exchanging gossip. Some South Africa, agreed, saying it was of education about equality and until the issue of violence in the priority. It was allocated a whopping lie down on the tarmac, playing an enormous problem. She cited a human rights. broader society was dealt with. R165-billion,or 17% of the chicken with passing cars. recent report by the Human Sciences While girls in South Africa had The biggest gains in addressing total budget. The South African government Research Council which revealed that better access to schools than those gender-based violence in and Jules High School in Johannesburgs is the seventh-largestspender on 34% of learners experienced sexual in other African countries,that was around schools will be made only Jeppestown is bordered by education on the continent but the harassment and sexual abuse at school often denied to them as a result of the when the political will is in place to three streets. The entrance,apart country performed abysmally in from peers and another 14 % were sexually gender-based violence many experienced address deep-seated gender prejudices from the graffition the walls (it is the Trends in InternationalMathematics harassed by educators at schools on a daily basis, the in all aspects of South African a high school after all), is not unattractive and Science study, ranking These are amazingly concerning researcherssaid. life, the UNGEI paper read. We will oak trees fill the sky bottom in 1999 and 2003. In its statistics,but what is even more Sakkie Prinsloo, a senior lecturer in not be able to change schools unless with their leaves. first Worlds Best Countries report, surprising is that this research has the department of educational management we transform our wider society. But around the corner its a Newsweek rated South Africas not resulted in a national thinktank and policy studies at the But something must be done to stop different story. fills the Rubbish education system 97th out of 10() tank with education departments to University of Pretoria, described it in sexual violence, whether it is incidents street where the taxis wait to collect countries. plan and implement a strategy, Van his 2006 paper on sexual harassment like the one at Jules High School, educators pupils. Broken, dirty window So, with all that money being Niekerk said. and violence in South African schools demanding sexual favours for panes are visible from the road. poured into education, where is it South Africa has one of the most as an invisible form of exclusion. marks, or male learners groping girls walls The are grimy. going? It doesnt look as if much progressive and liberal constitutions The HRW report found that violence in classrooms. As Vetten says: What obviously homeless An stoned of it makes it to Jules. Tarryn in the world, largely due to the Bill of had a disruptive effect on the is important is that we must learn person walks the street, metres Harbour Rights and its promotion of the equality girls schooling and that some girls from the [ case, and implement of all citizens. But the practice is left school altogether. Those who a considered strategy. This is happening often far removed from the theory. remained chose to suffer in silence. all the time. Have we learned South Africa is full of contradic Yet the rights to human dignity, nothing from the last time? South Africa isfullof contradictions Other school rape cases and one February 8 2010: A seven-year-old boys, aged 15 and 18, were charged April this year. The rapes came to of these girl was repeatedly raped in the with rape. The pupils were under light when one boy asked another school toilets by three boys (one the influenceof alcohol at the time. to assist him with manpower is the gap aged nine and two aged 11) who June 92010: A boy from Mondeor because his wives were becoming between the attended the same school. and a girl from John Adamson many by the day. Parents accused progressive February 19 2010: A girl in grazie High were at a house with friends, the school of trying to sweep the U at Bryanston High School in where they drank alcohol. The two scandal under the carpet. legislation Joburg accused a fellow pupil of hail sex in the toilet of the house, November 8 2010: An 11-year-old put in place raping her. He allegedly coerced which was recorded on a cell girl from Katlehong was allegedly her into the toilet while she was phone. After the school holidays, raped by a 48-year-oldschool to protect waiting for a school play to start. the girl discovered that the video caretakerat her primary school women and He was suspended for seven days. had been widely circulated and onseveral occasions. He would May25 2010: A 14-year-oldgirl a charge of rape against the girls and laid give the girl sweets and chooolates was raped, allegedly by her school boy. This week the Sexual Offences after raping her. A school teacher reality the friends, in Uitenhage in the Eastern Court decided not to prosecute. discovered what had happened and of the daily Cape. She had bunked school with August 42010: Two 12-year-old reported the incident. The caretaker friends who later offered to escort boys were accused of continually was an - LzsaSfr experience of her home. Police noticed the group rapingat least three girls at the Sources: The Herald, West Cape violence and behaving suspiciouslyin nearby Pugishe Primary nearBushbuckridge. News, The Sandton Chronicle, The bushes in the area and soon found Parents said the sexual Witness, News24, The Star and harassment of the girl lying unconscious.

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