By JOHN KOMBE
SUSPECTED sexual abuse of girl pupils at Rufunsa Technical Boarding Secondary School in Rufunsa by some male teachers has raised concern from the community who have demanded that the culprits be punished.
A resident of Sinjela in the same area who sought anonymity appealed to the government to act because the situation had created a bad learning environment at the school.
He disclosed that the District Commissioner, Ms. Judith Chama had visited the school after receiving reports of girl-child abuse and wondered why no action has been taken against the alleged offenders.
He claimed that some teachers were allegedly sexually abusing the girls at the school and that this had created fear in the children.
Another source said that the district commissioner’s office visited the school and interviewed some children who confirmed the occurrence of sexual abuse.
He disclosed that the girls disclosed that some male teachers were forcing girl pupils to have sexual relationships with them for favours.
According to the source, this had created enmity between the teachers and the girls who had refused to give in to their demands and asked that this must be addressed before the situation gets out of hand. The pupils also earlier appealed to the Ministry of General Education to quickly intervene before the situation gets out of hand.
They added that they were traumatised and some girls had even stopped concentrating in class as the same teachers were discriminating against them.
One pupil disclosed that a pupil who was a victim of the sexual molestation by one of the teachers was contemplating suicide because her reports were not taken seriously by the school authorities.
Meanwhile unconfirmed reports suggest that the district commissioner had compiled a report which has since been sent to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of General Education for action.
The Ministry of General Education Permanent Secretary, Jobbicks Kalumba could not issue a comment by press time.
The district commissioner could not comment either as she was still in a meeting by press time.
