PANOS talks tough on defilers
Published On June 14, 2015 » 1704 Views» By Administrator Times » Latest News, Stories
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.KEIFER

.KEIFER

By CATHERINE NYIRENDA  –

PANOS Institute of Southern Africa (PSAF) has appealed to relevant educational authorities in Zambia to stiffen punishment for child defilers.
The Institute said teachers and guardians who sexually abused and defiled pupils under their care should be given stiff punishment.
PSAf executive director Lilian Kiefer said media reports of teachers, parents or guardians abusing pupils had now become a daily occurrence while other stories of such abuses go untold.
“While the authorities have repeatedly condemned this defilement and abuse, it appears the warnings are falling on deaf ears, judging by the unabated pace at which the scourge continues,” Ms Kiefer said.
She said in a statement in Lusaka yesterday that defilement did not only hurt the children physically, but also subjected them to mental torture and destroyed their destiny.
PSAf was urging Zambian authorities to learn from the Kenya Teachers Services Commission (TSC) who recently barred a total of 126 Kenyan teachers from teaching for the rest of their lives for engaging in sexual relations with students, among other forms of misconduct.
Ninety-six of the teachers in Kenya were found guilty of having sexual relations with their students.
Taking advantage of Zambia’s re-entry policy that allowed for pregnant pupils to return to school after maternity leave and the teachers’ influential position in the communities coupled with an ignorant rural community, some teachers were defiling pupils whom they promised marriage or pay off their parents.
In some cases, the teachers took advantage of the high levels of poverty among parents of the affected pupils.
The media had reported several cases that involved teachers sexually abusing pupils in their classrooms, offices and homes.
Just this week the media reported that a male pupil from Choma’s Pangwe Basic School stopped school after being sexually abused by his female class teacher.
“PSAf,  therefore, feels that bad elements in the teaching service that abuse their teaching roles to sexually abuse children should be removed to protect the child from unnecessary trauma, abuse and risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections, including HIV,” Ms Kiefer said.

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