TAAAC on Joy FM Talk Show

The directive banning male teachers from conducting tuition for girls from their homes which was issued by the Minister of Education, Hon. Dora Siliya at the ZAMWA Journalists Media Training Workshop on August 10, 2010 has generated a lot of interest in the country. The workshop is part of the many activities being funded by the UN Trust Fund under the project, "Our Girls, Our Future, Building Synergy to end Violence against Adolescent Girls in Zambia."


In issuing the directive, Hon. Siliya (pictured above) noted some male teachers were using home tuitions to lure girls into sexual activities. This directive has been given extensive media coverage in both the print and electronic media, and responses from the cross section of our society to these media houses have continued to pour in. On August 11th, the TAAAC Coordinator/Consultant, Shupe Makashinyi featured on a radio talk show hosted by Emmanuel Mulenga of Joy FM Radio (106.9 MHz). Other people who were featured on the programme were Ms. Catherine Chinunda, Deputy General Secretary of the Zambia National Union of Teachers (ZNUT), and Mr. Erick Mwale, Director, Research and Workers Education, representing the Secondary School Teachers Union of Zambia (SESTUZ). The three interviewees discussed the subject of sexual abuse against adolescent girls and the Minister of Education's directive banning home tuition.


All the three interviewees welcomed the Minister of Education's directive and underscored the significant role it will play in scaling down incidences of sexual abuse of adolescent girls in schools. Although the teachers' union representatives downplayed the prevalence of this problem among teachers, Mrs. Makashinyi maintained that what is obtaining on the ground is cause for worry.

She highlighted some of the comprehensive sexual and health related services that are provided to young people by coalition members such as the PPAZ. She encouraged parents and guardians of school-attending children to immediately report cases of sexual abuse to the police and also seek immediate help for the victim of abuse attention at the One Stop Centre based at the University Teaching Hospital. She called for the formulation and legally enforceable code of conduct for teachers in order to make our schools safe environments for the girl child and restrain would be offenders.

It is gratifying to note that the Zambian government is recognising and acknowledging that cases of sexual violence against girls is also being perpetrated by people to whom parents entrust their children for the better part of the day. TAAAC Zambia will continue to play its critical role of advocacy and influence policy and legal reform in order to obtain justice for victims of sexual abuse and safeguard the welfare of our children.