MPs warn teachers against defiling school girls
Jun 23, 2015
Legislators on the parliamentary forum for quality education on Tuesday called on teachers to adhere to the profession’s code of conduct and to stop defiling pupils.
By John Agaba
Legislators on the parliamentary forum for quality education on Tuesday called on teachers to adhere to the profession’s code of conduct and to stop defiling pupils.
The dressing-down comes after a damning report by UNICEF pointing to an increase in the number of sexual abuses against school going girls and boys at the hands of people “supposed to be children’s caretakers”.
During a half-day meeting on child labour, early marriages and the role of parents in improving the quality of education at Hotel Africana in Kampala, the legislators directed an emotional attack on teachers who “eat where they work” by sleeping with their pupils.
Kyenjojo district Woman MP, Lyndah Timbigamba, described the picture as unimaginable. Agago district Woman MP, Judith Franca Akello, said teachers who defile pupils should be thrown out of service and shown no mercy.
She narrated a story where a teacher (in Agago district) defiled a 14-year-old primary six pupil. But when the teacher was apprehended (by authorities), the girl’s mother protested the move, saying the villagers were against her daughter because she (the daughter) was marrying a teacher.”
“We need to dispel these notions. Parents need to know children’s rights. And we need to speak up against this vice,” said Akello.
“In villages, parents look at teachers as gods. They look at having a child who the school teacher has an interest in as a privilege.”
Uganda is one of the countries with high violations of child rights. Apart from sexual abuses like defilement, the country posts high incest cases. And reports indicate that 49% of Ugandan girls are married off before the consent age of 18. There is child labour; and high school dropout rates.
Wakiso district Woman MP, Rosemary Nansubuga Seninde, called for an accurate “diagnosis and prescription” in averting the high sexual abuse cases children continue to suffer.
Herbert Turyatunga, the Equip Africa chief executive officer, called against early marriages. He said that girls who are aged 10 to 14 years were five times more likely to die in pregnancy-related complications (if they conceived) than girls who were aged 20 to 24 years.
Former Uganda Investment Authority boss Maggie Kigozi, who was the guest of honor, called for concerted effort to improve children’s welfare.
During the Day of the African Child celebrations in Kayunga district on June 16, Minister for Labour, Gender and Social Development, Muruli Mukasa, said the Government had developed a strategy to avert early marriages and foster children’s rights.
The commitment aside, many activists cited a lack of political will to eliminate violations against children’s rights. They said the Government was slow on implementation of policies that would help avert the vices.
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