Sally Chiwama’s Weblog

By Sally Chiwama

“Teacher, Headmaster and the Ministry of Education to pay sexually abused girl K45m ”.

A judge recently made a declaration in the High Court of Zambia that the “Government is responsible for all school going children in the care of it’s agents such as teachers, school authorities and any other person in it’s employment during the time the schools are in session.”

This is in a case in which a minor and her guardian sued a teacher, the Ministry of Education and the school after he was found guilty of rape.

Children trust their teachers

Like all children, pupils almost idolize their teachers, Kalenga Mutale (not real name) 13 innocently asked her teacher for past examination papers as she was about to write her grade nine final exams. Teacher “conveniently” forgot the papers after being asked more than three times, and when it suited him, he told the girl to “come and get them from home” after class. Innocent as she was, Kalenga went to her teachers home to get the past papers, she found her teacher listening to music.

“Teacher” then asked Kalenga to take a seat and later asked if she was scared to which she admitted that she was. She then asked about the past papers and he told her to go and get them from another room, she did as she was told but froze in her feet when she opened the curtain (in place of a door) only to find she was looking into bedroom. When she turned to go back “Teacher” was standing in her way blocking her from passing.

Kalenga became scared and asked him what he was doing there, he didn’t flinch and instead started telling the girl that she was pretty and wanted to marry her. “Teacher” then pushed her onto the bed and covered her mouth. Before she knew it the young girl went blank, the next thing “teacher” put his manhood in her vagina and when she tried to scream, he covered her mouth even harder.

After finishing his business “teacher” then gives her a stern warning not to tell anybody or else she would be chased from school and he would lose his job.

Kalenga Contracts an STI.

She went home but did not tell her Auntie who is her legal guardian because in her mind her Auntie is a difficult person, so she decided to keep the information to herself, before she knew it her private parts started itching. When the itching continued, she decided to go to a clinic, got examined and was given medicine to insert in her vagina and another type to take orally.

The itching persisted and the young girl got scared and went to tell “teacher” who scolded her that how come he was not getting sick himself. The situation was not getting any better and the young girl did not know what to do or where to go. She decided to tell her class teacher what had happened. In reply this teacher said he knew he story and advised her to report the case to her guardian or else he would reveal himself. Kalenga’s class teacher knew of what been going on as he was housemates with the “teacher” but decided enough was enough, he had to put an end to this. She was then taken for medical examination which included an HIV/AIDS test, fortunately the results were negative.

Performance dwindles at school.

As the trauma started sinking in, Kalenga’s performance in school started dwindling as she started getting low marks. She told this author that her friends bullied her at school and some would write notes to her and telling her that she was a bad girl and some said I was lying about the whole thing and just accusing the teacher.

“It was really traumatizing for me, because my friends were bulling me and telling me that I was just making up this whole thing and that I just wanted to put the teacher in trouble, I would go home crying”, said Kalenga.

Time to tell

Kalenga’s class teacher put her to task and told her that if she didn’t tell her auntie he would tell her himself, the young girl could not pluck up the courage to tell her auntie so the class teacher and his friend called the girl and went to a pay phone to call the auntie. When the auntie answered the phone she started crying instead of talking, so the class teacher spoke to the Auntie and urged her to listen to what her niece had to tell her as soon as she came home from school.

When Kalenga arrived home from school, her Auntie was waiting for her at home, meanwhile a thought crossed her mind that her niece could be pregnant as she could understand why her niece was scared to talk her.

“When my niece came home, I prayed that she wasn’t pregnant” we started to talk and then she revealed all that her teacher had raped her, “I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t know what to do, so the first that came to my mind was to confront the teacher at his school” said Kalenga’s Aunt.

“The Teacher’s” defense

The “teacher” testified that he knew the girl that she was his pupil but denied having carnal knowledge of her although he had wanted to talk to her about something but did not do so for three days.

The teacher also said that the young girl started spreading rumors that she was his girlfriend and that towards Valentines Day the young girl followed him with a bunch of flowers and some chocolate. He then said that he tried to avoid her as he realized that the whole thing would get him in trouble and that the young girl requested to talk to him on several occasions but he declined. The “teacher” said that the girl wanted to have a relationship with him but declined.

However, on cross examination the “teacher” admitted that the girl was his girl and that she did not propose him, he said that he called the girl his girlfriend because there was a relationship.

Headmaster knew of his teachers conduct.

The next morning, Aunt and niece decided to go school and see the report the case to the headmaster of the school. As they arrived at the headmaster’s office, Auntie reported the case and the Deputy Headmaster and a senior teacher were called into the meeting. The “teacher” was also called into this meeting.

The Headmaster told the Aunt that he could not blame the girl as she was a minor. The headmaster then reminded the “teacher” of a previous relationship with another student. The teacher was further asked if he knew the student in question and he answered in the affirmative and that the girl was his girlfriend. Then headmaster further asked the “teacher” if he knew how old the girl was and if he had had sex with her. The teacher admitted that the girl was 14 years old and but could not answer the last question as it was a very difficult one but asked to be forgiven.

The Judge said….

A teacher has moral superiority over his pupils and in any event he cannot be heard to say the student consented without independent advice, even in contractual relationship and that a girl saying that she loved him did not mean that she consented to sex, when she is below 16 years of age. The Judge further said that the “teacher manipulated the girl by deliberately forgetting the past examination papers in order to create and opportunity to sexually abuse her at his home.

The Judge also said that there could be no consent by a child under 16 and that to characterize a valentine card with words ‘if loving you is a sin, then I have committed one’ as consenting to sexual assault is legally, morally and psychologically flawed and that such a perception undermines section 138 of the penal code, is contrary to the ethics of a teacher not to sleep with school girls, and is psychologically wrong as a child under 16 is not cognitively developed to consent to sex

Judge finds headmaster “guilty”

The Judge says in his judgment that when children are deposited at school then teacher becomes their parent. That the standard of care owned by the headmaster of a school towards the pupils is that of a careful father towards his own children.

“The headmaster knew that the teacher in question was a sexual pervert and had the victim transferred to another school while he villain was left to go scot free. Could he have done the same if the pervert was in his household and it became apparent that he was sexually abusing his daughters, would he have left such a matter unreported and still retain the pervert in his household? I don’t think he would have taken a dim view if it had affected his family. His conduct therefore falls below the set standards” read the judgment.

Conclusion

Kalenga through her lawyer submitted that the case was novel and that it was special because it gives the Zambian courts a chance to move the Zambian Government by “Judge Made Law” to strengthen its policy on the protection of the girl child against sexual abuse. That with the advent of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS which have no cure, the chances of millions of girls being infected with this ‘death sentence’ by unscrupulous teachers / headmasters cannot go unabated” part of the judgment read.

The Judge has since awarded Kalenga and her Aunt a total of K45million (K45,000,000).

On commenting on the judgment Aunt to girl said that she was happy to see that justice had been done and that she wanted to ensure that such a situation does not happen to any child because the emotional scars do not heal and asked how she feels after the judgment Kalenga said that she felt like hero for coming out in the open because most girls tend to keep quite when such things happen to them. She further urged all young girls not to trust any strangers and report any cases sexual abuse on them.

“Now, I feel like a hero, am now my own ambassador because now am a role model, some girls even come to me for advise”, like one time a girl from school came told me that her uncle had defiled her and asked what she should do, I advised her to tell a family member or see her pastor at church” Kalenga says.

“I also tell my friends not to trust any strangers, and that they should come out when something of that sort happens, we have to fight this scourge together because a potential defiler can be anywhere, at school or at home”, said Kalenga with a big smile on her face.

One question remains to be answered though. When people know about this landmark judgment and what it means, Parents and Guardians will be suing the Ministry of Education left, right and centre. The big question though is “Will the Ministry of Education (MoE) pay for all defilement cases or will they put measures in place to curb this “vice” in the education sector.