Involvement of Selected Secondary Schools in Child Protection against Violence, Exploitation and Sexual Abuse in Lusaka, Zambia

International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume VIII, Issue IX, September 2021 | ISSN 2321–2705

Involvement of Selected Secondary Schools in Child Protection against Violence, Exploitation and Sexual Abuse in Lusaka, Zambia

Luckson Chembe Likumbo, Gistered Muleya & Francis Simui
Institute of Distance Education, University of Zambia

Abstract: No child should have to worry about his or her safety and welfare. Unfortunately, research shows that millions of children around the world are at risk for violence, abuse, and exploitation. There are several threats to the safety of children, most of which are interconnected. Therefore, this study focused on the practices of secondary schools in ensuring the protection of their children in Lusaka district of Lusaka province of Zambia. The study was guided by the following objectives: i). Describe the prevalence of cases of violence, exploitation and sexual abuse among children in secondary schools in Lusaka district. ii). Explore the measures taken to protect children from violence, exploitation and sexual abuse in selected secondary schools. iii). Explore gaps in the actions taken to deal with child protection concerns in selected secondary schools in Lusaka district. This study employed a qualitative methodology guided by a case study design in the light of learned helplessness theory. Additionally, the study adopted systematic and purposive sampling techniques to enrol four secondary schools and to enlist thirty-six (36) participants respectively. The findings of the study revealed that violence, exploitation and sexual abuse are very much prevalent in secondary schools. However, it is difficult to ascertain the prevalence because of under-reporting of these cases by the pupils. Cases of sexual abuse were found to be more prevalent among the girls and cases of physical abuse were more pronounced among the boys. The study also revealed that teachers are usually the perpetrators of these cases. Thus, the following were recommendations among others: i). the government through the Ministry of General Education should strengthen the child protection policies in schools, ii). the government through the Ministry of Higher Education should introduce a course in guidance and counselling.

Key Words: Child Protection, Violence, Exploitation, Sexual Abuse, School, Zambia

I. CONTEXT

This is an extract from the Dissertation of the Principal researcher on Involvement of Selected Secondary Schools in Child Protection against Violence, Exploitation and Sexual Abuse in Lusaka, Zambia. As a requirement for the award of a Master of Science in Peace Leadership and Conflict Resolution at the University of Zambia (UNZA) in partnership with the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU), students are required to conduct a research study that culminates into a Dissertation (Simui, Kasonde Ngandu, Cheyeka and Kakana, 2018). The UNZA-ZOU partnership has been running since 2014 via the distance learning mode. The University of Zambia is configured in a dual mode

Read More