allAfrica.com: Mauritius: Teachers should be able to detect sexual abuse (Page 1 of 1)

Empowering teachers to help them deal with potential victims of sexual violence. This was the main objective of a workshop organised by the MFPWA jointly within the GTU.

About 50 primary school teachers attended the workshop organised by the director of the MFWPA, Vidya Charan (below R.).

"Child sexual abuse is the most underreported form of child abuse so these children need to have someone they trust so that they can confide in them," declared Kate Ah-Nien, acting Senior child welfare officer of the ministry of Women's rights and Child development, right at the beginning of her presentation. Teachers need therefore to be trained and equipped with "adequate knowledge and skills to recognise the signs and symptoms of child abuse and be aware of reporting procedures", said Vidya Charan, the executive director of the Mauritius Family Planning and Welfare Association (MFPWA). This was the main objective of the workshop held yesterday at Le St Georges Hotel in Port-Louis.

This one-day conference organised by the MFPWA jointly with the Government Teachers Union (GTU) was an opportunity for 50 teachers of primary schools to share their experiences, reflect on their roles and responsibilities and be given tools to detect and deal with inappropriate behaviour in class. Thanks to the presentations by professionals of the sector, teachers were able to have a better overview of the situation and better tackle difficult situations. This was their hope and expectation before the workshop started yesterday morning.

For the GTU president, "the ministry needs to empower teachers to play their social role. Being a teacher is not only about imparting knowledge to pupils. They are the ones in the best position to prevent violence, attacks and other scourges from affecting pupils." He also found it regrettable that the ministry did not encourage teachers to do their job properly by giving them more incentives.

The number of cases of child abuse - and specifically sexual abuse - is definitely on the rise. However, the child welfare officer made it clear that this does not mean that there has been a real rise in the number of cases. It may well mean that more children now dare to come to light and reveal possible ill-treatment. "But 244 cases in 2006 is definitely too many for a small country like Mauritius," she pointed out.

"In view of the growing number of cases of abuse on innocent children, we wanted to ask teachers to help us reduce this number. We already have a strong partnership with the GTU but we now want to go a step further," explained Vidya Charan. "We can't leave this problem to the main institutions and non-governmental organisations. Everyone needs to work together."

It is hard to detect cases of Commercial

Sexual Exploitation of the Child because

children do not present the same

"symptoms" as for child abuse.

Instead of being introvert and powerless,

the ones who engage in prostitution

feel they are in control and have no remorse.

There are a number of typical behaviours or indicators that can help teachers identify the potential victim of child abuse. But teachers must be able to recognise the signs. Kate Ah-Nien mentioned some - if the child does not go as far as reporting the case to a trusted person, "the child may wear torn, stained or bloody underwear" or have a "detailed and age-inappropriate understanding of sexual behaviour" for instance. The fact that the child is the victim of other forms of abuse may also be a sign.

Likewise, the age of the child, the time and the duration of the abuse, the relationship he or she has with the abuser or the aggravating circumstances of violence are all factors that may influence the effects of the abuse on the child in the long-term.

Teachers need to adopt a friendly and responsible behaviour towards the child. They may sit close to him/her as a friend so that he/she feels more comfortable. The avoidance of "too many repetitive questions that may put the child in an embarrassing situation" is a must. The child must also understand that he/she is not responsible for what happened. "It is important that teachers do not make any kind of promise that they can't keep to children. Children must be aware that teachers will have to refer the case so that they don't feel betrayed," the welfare officer made it clear.

She also underlined the difficulty of detecting cases of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of the Child (CSEC) because children do not present the same "symptoms". Instead of being introvert, traumatised, feel responsible for what happened and powerless, the ones who engage in prostitution feel that they are "in control and know their actions, are more attractive and have no remorse". But there are other signs - like the sudden acquisition of new clothes or shoes even though these children come from extremely poor families - that can help teachers - but also parents - have doubts.

Teachers are, however, not expected to deal with the problem alone. In fact, they only need to be able to detect and talk to the child before referring it to their headmasters who will then take appropriate steps with institutions concerned.

web allafrica.com	Enter your search terms	Submit search form
OR subscribers use AllAfrica's premium search engine


Use our pull-down menus to find more stories

Today's Most Active Stories