SECONDARY school boys are increasingly engaging in sexual activities with teachers in exchange for better grades, a report by the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare has established.
The report – which the ministry carried out in conjunction with the Southern Africa HIV/Aids Information Dissemination Services (SAfAIDS) – showed that the practice also extended to the country’s tertiary education institutions.
SAfAIDS country representative Monica Mandiki said although there were no immediate statistics on the trend a “worrying increase” in the number of boys having sex with their teachers was evident.
She said the concentration on saving the girl child over the years had left boys at the mercy of sexual predators in schools.
“Of the 1 200 pupils interviewed, 7 percent confirmed they had had sex with their teacher in exchange of favours and the majority of this 7 percent were boys,” Mandimika told the Sunday Mail.
“Efforts have been concentrated on the girl child with the mistaken belief that she was more vulnerable than the boy. Now, findings suggest the boy is in a worse off situation.”
The report also found that there was an increase in the number of preganancies among girls of school going age. At one secondary school in Manicaland’s Honde Valley area 15 girls under the age of 16 dropped out of school last year after they fell pregnant.
However headmasters interviewed generally objected to discussion of sexual health issues as well as the distribution of condoms and contraceptives in their schools.
Most school heads interviewed appeared to believe that provision contraceptives and discussion of sexual health issues would encourage promiscuity and experimentation by pupils.