Sexual violence in Busoga subregion has geared immoralities with the young people fearing harrasments such as rape and defilement from family members and purportedly themselves.
The unlawful practice extend to primary and secondary schools where teachers and school bosses take the advantage to use the young girls and boys as their wives and husbands, respectively.
A just released report shows that 4 out of 10 school going children in the region have ever experienced sexual violence in schools and can narrate the feeling of the act rejoiced by eighteen and above individuals.
Community Concerns Uganda Initiative, a nonprofit organisation based in Jinja in October 2023, embarked on a significant survey on sexualviolence, targeting rural public schools in six districts including Luuka, Jinja, Kamuli, Buyende Mayuge and Namayingo.
According to findings, Mayuge takes the lead with 62% cases while Kamuli registered the highest number of females who seduced teenage boys for sex.
The Ministry of Education and Sports in 2013 introduced the Reporting, Tracking, Refereal and Response (RTRR) guidelines to crackdown on the growing immoralities in schools which, however, the findings indicate that female teachers and female relatives lead the molestation of the teenagers.
The organisation’s program officer, Michael Nangulu, states that 2493 students and 13 teachers were randomly interviewed about the Ministry’s RTRR, whose implementation has since been futile, leading to growth of sexual violence in schools.
“2 out of 10 students are perpetrators of sexual violence, and surprisingly, some students are willing to be sexually abused, whereas others enjoy the sexual violence,” said Nangulu.
“The Ministry has also not played their role, after distributing the guidelines they sat back but they to monitor its implementation in schools,” he added, calling District Inspector of schools (DEOs) to supervise the relevance of the guidelines.
According to Mr Said Mukyawe Nsamba, the Assistant Commissioner in charge of Education and Social Works in Education Ministry, school authorities undermined the RTRR system whereas teachers and students remained ignorant about the guidelines.
“We sent these guidelines to school headteachers but they decided to keep them to themselves which is the reason many students are not aware of how to report and where to report cases of sexual harassment,” Mukyawe said.
The Mayuge DEO, Mr Fred Muwubani, decries fishng and the sugarcane industries that have highly contributed to the illegal acts as several individuals after earning something, they resort convincing girls whose parents are unable to provide essential items like pads and scholastic materials.
Mr Muwubani is concerned with teachers who have violated their code of conduct, making the minors fall victims of sexual violence.
“This report is very factual, but we need to come up with interventions embraced by everybody, including the religious leaders, politicians, educationalists, and students such that the messege sinks well in society,” said Eria Kisambira the DEO of Jinja district who called for collective efforts from religious leaders, cultural and political leaders to fight against the practices.
