The Education and Sports Ministry is set to review and enforce the teacher’s code of conduct to stem sexual violence against learners in schools.
The State Minister for Primary Education, Rosemary Seninde disclosed this at the launch of the Uganda Violence against Children Survey by the Gender, Labor and Social Development Ministry.
“We are going to review and enforce our teachers conduct because it has come to our notice that teachers who are supposed to help students end up abusing them by engaging in sexual activity,” she said.
The Minister explained that they are going to sensitize teachers about the code of conduct because most teachers do not know it.
“We want teachers to know what they are meant to do and not. We want teachers to report cases of sexual violence against children instead of sitting back as their fellow colleague’s abuse children,” he said.
According to the Uganda Violence against Children Survey report, schools were one of the areas where children are abused. The report shows that more than 20 percent of all forms of sexual violence that involve children take place at school.
Seninde requested parents to play a role in curbing sexual violence in schools. “Parents need to play a part in reporting sexual violence cases. It is really shocking when you hear that parents are helping teachers and head teachers to abuse their children. They would rather keep quiet and get something in return than stop the abuse. This is not good and has to stop. Parents need to protect their children,” she said.
The minister also made a commitment on behalf of the Education Ministry to revise its policy to allow pregnant students to continue with school. “Some of these learners get pregnant with the help of teachers or as a result of sexual violence and it is not fair to send them out of school.”
According to Seninde, the current code of conduct doesn’t call upon teachers to report suspected cases of violence against children.
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