Ms Mageda Esolyo, the Gender and Inclusion Coordinator, Transparency International, mother-body of the Ghana Integrity Initiative, has called for strict sanctions against teachers who subject students to sexual harassment and abuse.
Identifying such forms of harassments as “sexual corruption”, she said the schools were mandated to protect children, therefore the educational authorities must sanction and appropriately penalise those who took advantage of vulnerable students in the schools.
Ms Esolyo made the call at a two-day gender training programme, organised by the Ghana Integrity Initiative and Transparency International, under its “Inclusive Service Delivery Africa” Project in Accra.
She proposed the setting up integrity clubs in schools to enable the students to learn and share ideas on “bodily integrity, bodily autonomy, choice, consent, power, and what is being taken advantage of in their lives for their welfare.”
Such clubs, she explained, could create a space for girls to speak up and be enlightened on the power they possessed and their ability to say “no” to matters concerning their lives.
“However, as I said, first and foremost, it’s the education sector that needs to look and see how the teachers are conducting and comporting themselves. Is there a code of conduct? And if you’re not adhering to the code of conduct, what is the punishment that should be given to you?
“…If there has been, for example, a report against a teacher in a particular school, over sexual corruption, why should they go and be hired again in another school if they have not been called to justice?” she said.
Ms Esolyo admonished civil society organisations to equip girls with essential tools and a platform for them to be able to report for justice.
“…When there is no justice, then it shows that the young girls cannot come to report and that the school is not a safe place for anyone,” she added.
The Gender Coordinator encouraged parents to engage in an in-depth conversation with their children, especially the girls – when they visit them at the boarding house and during their vacation – about their experiences.
“But when the children, especially the girls speak to you as parents, instead of reprimanding them, please have a listening ear. This sexual corruption is a societal problem that can be addressed with various structures in the community.”
“But the first thing is always to believe the person whom the crime has been committed against,” she said.
Mr Michael K. Boadi, the Fundraising Manager, Ghana Integrity Initiative, defined corruption as a complex social activity in which money, goods or other resources that belonged to a public organisation were exchanged or transferred covertly in a way that benefitted particularistic actors instead of the organisation or the general public (Jancsics, 2019: 528).
He was speaking on the topic: “Understanding Corruption and Its Impact on Women, Girls and Marginalised Groups.”
He said Ghana’s corruption problem had deep roots in society and its political culture, where societal expectations of largesse and patronage from public office holder produced a system that was hospitable to corruption, according to the Global Integrity Report on Ghana (2004:7).
This is combined with a culture of official impunity, low remuneration, and opacity and unregulated discretion in the use of public authority.
Mr Boadi stated that disclosure of impropriety might be made to an employer of the whistleblower, a police officer, the Attorney-General, the Auditor-General, a staff of the Intelligence Agencies like EOCO and Bureau of National Investigations, a Member of Parliament, and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice.
Others are a member of a district assembly, a minister of state, the Office of the President, the revenue agencies governing board or a district chief executive, the National Media Commission and the Narcotics Control Board.
GNA
