2023-05-01 09:50:56
The school should be an environment conducive to learning and student growth. Alas, this is not always the case. While there are students who suffer sexual harassment from their teachers, other young girls are raped by their educators. These indecent behaviors leave damage in the lives of the victims.
Butoyi* an 18 year old student in the final class tells me as if it were yesterday an event 2 years ago that traumatized her. Her voice full of emotions, she tells me about this teacher who had fallen in love with her. Was it love? I doubt. “His gestures spoke for themselves, even my classmates suspected that something was going on between us. » This teacher constantly questioned him on one or the other question and sent him to the blackboard all the time. One day, the teacher asked her to go out with him and she refused, aware that it was not necessary to maintain a relationship with her educator. “I understood this course perfectly but following this refusal, I accumulated failures in his course until I repeated! »she remembers, a touch of sorrow in her voice.
I ask him this question that burns my lips: “Did he ever ask you to sleep with him?” » No, she replies, “but I am convinced that if I hadn’t set limits, this situation would have occurred. » She admits to me that she only spoke about this tension with her teacher to her parents. They advised him to be patient.
The points, this tool of blackmail
Bella*, another 15-year-old girl, suffered a similar situation, but it got worse afterwards. Her best friend and classmate of the latter tells me her story. Unlike Butoyi who performed well in class, Bella always had low grades. His math teacher tried to take advantage of this loophole. “I noticed that you have few points in my course, do you want to have more?” », he asked her one day, catching up with her in the schoolyard. “Students make you less intelligent” (What is worth nothing makes less intelligent) She replied, suspicious. After peeling this refusal, the teacher started slapping her for trifles in the middle of class, her close friend tells me. The slightest mistake on Bella’s part was heavily punished until the teacher summoned her on a certain Saturday. The teacher reformulated his request to give her free points if she wanted to get out of it. Annoyed, Bella eventually agreed and saw her grades go up dramatically. “We, her friends, she told us about it but we did not know how to advise her. »
The math teacher called her another time. It was a Sunday, says Bella’s friend. “I remember it because this time our teacher overstepped the bounds and tricked her into having sex in his office. » After many refusals from Bella, the teacher tried to rape her but she managed to escape by leaving her shoes in the office. The next day, Bella revealed everything to her friends but did not dare to tell the authorities. At the end of the school year, she left this establishment and the teacher went unpunished.
Article 67 of the school regulations according to Ministerial Ordinance No. 620/1078 of 19/06/2020 is as follows: “Any school title obtained illegally is canceled and destroyed if it is found later and exposes the holder and his accomplices to administrative sanctions and legal proceedings. »
When rape ensues…
The father of a 14-year-old victim who was raped by his director in Kirimbi in the province of Gitega says that following this trauma, his daughter dropped out of school. In this case, the perpetrator of the rape received a 15-year sentence and a fine of 2,100,000 FBu thanks to the involvement of an OPJ and a prosecutor. Nevertheless, 5 years later, the thug was released leaving incomprehension and indignation in the hearts of the relatives of the victim. In this case, a witness at the scene of the rape testified.
Few victims dare to testify or simply talk about it. Why is that ? Béatrice Barandereka, clinical psychologist at the Seruka Center answers us: “In our culture, questions about sexuality are still taboo. For rape victims, they fear being judged, misunderstood, stigmatized and discriminated against by family members and the community. They are also afraid of possible reprisals from the perpetrator of the rape. » The psychologist also tells us about the depth of the pain caused by the rape: “Talking about rape is once again reliving the traumatic event. Many prefer to remain silent, which is not good for mental health because repression causes deep wounds. »
Regarding the psychological consequences, the expert lists: “The feeling of defilement, shame and guilt, fear, anger, anguish and depression which can lead to suicide. »
According to her, psychological care is a special case. To provide support, we must reassure victims of confidentiality to create a framework of trust that encourages the expression of their experience. Here, continues the expert, the important thing is to bring the victim to verbalize his feelings, his experience to give him emotional support and help him mourn the losses (virginity, self-esteem, etc.) during the rape.
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