The nature and frequency of reported cases of teacher perpetrated child sexual abuse in rural primary schools in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Objective: The main purpose of this study was to investigate the nature and magnitude of reported cases of teacher perpetrated child sexual abuse of rural primary school pupils in Zimbabwe. The study also determined the distribution of reported cases of child sexual abuse according to the characteristics of victims and perpetrators. Method: This is a retrospective case series study of reported cases of child sexual abuse drawn from six randomly selected educational jurisdictions. The study covered an 8-year period (1990–1997) and used a study sample of 110 nonclinical case files of teacher perpetrators. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the findings. Results: Gender-wise, 108 (98%) of the victims were girls, while all perpetrators were male teachers. Penetrative sex was the most prevalent (70%) type of sexual abuse. Meanwhile, the modal age for sexual abuse in the study sample was 12 years, which represents 46% of reported cases, while the most vulnerable age group comprised pubertal (11–13 years) children, who accounted for 69% of all sexual abuse cases. On the one hand, beginning teachers (0–5 years), who comprised 63% of the study sample, were most at risk of sexually abusing school children. Finally, 78% of 32 cases handled by the courts resulted in convictions, while 83% of all teacher perpetrators were dismissed from the teaching service. Conclusion: The results of the study clearly indicate that the problem of teacher perpetrated child sexual abuse is not uncommon among rural primary schools in Zimbabwe. The study has also shown that the perpetrators of child sexual abuse in rural primary schools are generally male teachers; a majority of them are young and inexperienced. Finally, this study showed that penetrative sex was the most prevalent form of abuse (70%), perpetrated on predominantly female victims (98%), and that all perpetrator teachers were males, and may clearly reflect Zimbabwe’s highly patriarchal society.