We need a law on harassment in school

Mar 11, 2009

This years Women Day Celebrations should have been held under the theme ‘Seeking to increase investment in girls’ education as a means to development’

By Brian Kalule

This years Women Day Celebrations should have been held under the theme ‘Seeking to increase investment in girls’ education as a means to development’

This would mean going beyond merely encouraging increased school attendance by the girl-child but extend to issues that affect the quality of education.
For this article, I intend to give my reflections on sexual harassment in education.

Sexual harassment is a widespread problem in our education system, yet it receives little attention from administrators and teachers. Although anybody can be affected by sexual harassment, it is mostly the girl-child who is the victim.

In 2004, a survey by the gender ministry concluded that while female students were most often the victims of sexual harassment, female lecturers, secretaries and other junior staff were also frequently denied promotions, pay and fair treatment if they refused to have sex with their male superiors.

Harassment interferes with people’s educational experiences and productivity and does not respect a person’s goals, preferences, or choices.

Thus, acts of sexual violence and harassment have created an extremely hostile environment for young women in schools in Uganda which has led to inequality in education delivery and high drop-out rates for female students.

As we commemorated women’s day, we needed to have worked out a strategy of working together to guarantee a harassment-free educational environment.
Unfortunately, Ugandan law has no specific policies on sexual harassment.

For instance, the Constitution that guarantees the right to education but is silent about sexual harassment. The Teaching Service Commission Regulations of 1996 have a teacher’s code of conduct but it is also not exhaustive on the subject.

For instance, regulation 5(c) only requires a teacher to observe the laws of Uganda in matters of sex, and marriage and it further obliges the teachers to set a good example to the children. This is not a clear guideline to deal with the behaviour.

The closest our laws get to tackle sexual harassment in Education is in the code of conduct and ethics for the Uganda Public Service, which needless to say applies for only teachers who are employed by the Public Service and therefore does not extend to teachers in Private Schools.

Having a sexual harassment policy or including one in the relevant laws is one of the steps in preventing sexual harassment.
The importance of having such a policy and procedure cannot be stressed enough. If no policy exists, the administrators, teachers and students will have no guidelines to deal with behaviour.

If a policy exists, they will know what behaviour constitutes sexual harassment, know the steps to follow if it occurs, know the potential consequences to the harasser, and also know the rights and responsibilities of each individual involved.

The sexual harassment policy should therefore be specific in spelling out consequences to the harasser, timeline for investigation of the complaint, suggestions for possible informal resolution, clear step-by-step procedures for victims to follow without fear of retaliation, the need for confidentiality and who will be the complaint managers.

Further, the policy should be widely disseminated, and should be included in the student and staff handbooks. With this, I believe we can create a harassment free educational environment, lack of which would otherwise disrupt the right to equal education by interfering with the student’s psychological, social, and physical well-being, plus learning, attendance, course choices, grades, and therefore, economic potential.

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