PARENTS, guardians and teachers have been challenged to openly address acts of sexual abuse to primary school pupils which have now become rampant.
The Coordinator of Parenting and Counselling in the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Mr Franaeli Munisi gave the challenge during a meeting of a pilot project on Prevention and Awareness at Schools of HIV/ Aids (PASHA).
The project started in 2009 and ends in December 2012 under funding of the Belgium and Tanzanian governments in the tune of 1, 606, 486 Euros. Mr Munisi said the HIV/ Aids awareness programme trains teacher counsellors to help children who have suffered sexual abuse. The programme which also involves ward councillors helps to address the issue through counselling.
He noted that sexual abuse should be condemned and stopped because they put pupils at risk of getting HIV/Aids infections. "Sodomy is prevailing among pupils, these was revealed by the children themselves, we should not keep quite on this but join hands between parents, guardians and teachers to ensure it is stopped, otherwise we are putting our children in danger of getting HIV/Aids infections and other sexual transmitted diseases," he said.
Ibrahim Matayo, a standard seven pupil at Maendeleo Primary School in Temeke region, said the programme came at the right time to protect pupils who are forced into sexual acts by elderly pupils. Matayo said it is true that such acts happen in their school, noting that pupils do so mostly in latrines.
He said being among the peers enlightened on issues of HIV/Aids, he will help pass on the knowledge to other pupils in his school and community in general for children to stay away from temptations such as money. Ms Mulinda Shani, a teacher and counsellor at Maendeleo Primary School concurred that sodomy happens in primary schools, adding that elder pupils force younger ones in standard one to three into sexual acts.
"Once the younger ones get used to the acts, they go to the elder pupils seeking for it. We used to address the problem using disciplinary teachers, but since this programme started and we have trained counsellors the problem has reduced. "Since May this year, I have not received any students caught doing the acts. They do the acts in toilets and other structures around the school," Ms Shani said.
Ms Shani observed that parents and guardians should also take time and talk to their children. The Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Social Welfare, Mrs Margaret Sitta said all stakeholders should join hands to ensure the acts are stopped. The pilot project on HIV/ Aids awareness, the first of its kind targeting 28 primary schools in the country, demonstrated that at primary level, children and young adolescents can positively change their own behaviour and help change practices and behaviour of their peers.
When opening the meeting yesterday the Deputy Minister for Education and Vocational Training, Mr Philip Mulugo said the government will engage other stakeholders and sectors to ensure the project is scaled up to other districts countrywide. Mr Mulugo noted that the project has proved a success, showing that children can positively change their behaviour and influence others to change.
"The project has built confidence in the children giving them individual capacity of tackling different challenges in their environment, through peer health education using Arts and Sports," Mr Mulugo explained. The Belgium Ambassador Mr Koeraad Adam said his government would no longer fund the programme because of policies and needs agreed between the two countries that have limited cooperation to two priority sectors; the Local government reform and Natural Resources Management.
Mr Adam has however advised Tanzania to pull in other stakeholders including other development partners to carry on the good work started. The districts that benefited from the pilot project include Temeke, Ilala, Kinondoni, Bagamoyo, Mkuranga, Karatu and Rombo.
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201210120969.html
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