MAIL & GUARDIAN Friday, 12 November 2010, p. 16
Schoolgirls suffer 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 it s 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 school s name police delayed the arrest of the boys than whether the girl had been raped
because they didn t 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 we re just lurching many women, wrote the researchers the world, Prinsloo said. But, while
from crisis to crisis, Lisa Vetten, the at the UNGEI conference. it s 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 government stop 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 Johannesburg s 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 World s Best Countries report, surprising is that this research has the department of educational management we transform our wider society. But around the corner it s a Newsweek rated South Africa s 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 doesn t 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