Chronicle Editor
WHEN teachers and other members of staff are with school pupils, be it at a day or boarding school, they are in loco parentis. What this means is that the teachers and other members of staff assume the parents’ responsibilities.
When parents surrender their children to school authorities, they have no reason to worry about their safety, conduct or their class attendance because that is the responsibility of teachers and their supporting staff.
At a boarding school it is teachers and supporting staff that take care of where and when the pupils sleep, what they eat and in the event of a pupil falling sick, it is the school authorities who see to it that the pupil has been taken to a clinic or hospital and parents are usually informed when action has already been taken.
Parents are therefore, very disturbed when school authorities are found wanting regarding their responsibilities. What happened at Rhodes Estate Primary School (Reps) where authorities took almost a month to report alleged rape of two pupils calls for immediate investigations.
Two girls were allegedly raped on May 7 this year but the school authorities only reported the rape to the police on June 1. The pupils’ parents were only informed of the rape on June 2 and due to failure by the school authorities to treat the matter with the urgency it deserved, the victims could not be medically attended to within the stipulated 72 hours to prevent HIV, sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancy.
The rape of the two girls was only reported when the alleged perpetrator was already on the run hence the allegation that the authorities are trying to protect him.
The school authorities are as guilty as the perpetrator because of their failure to act promptly to lessen the victims’ suffering.
The two girls’ lives have been ruined and the school authorities did not help the situation by their lackadaisical approach to the issue. What happened at Reps is not acceptable and we want to implore the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to immediately institute investigations and if what has been reported is confirmed, disciplinary action should be taken against the authorities.
Parents of Reps must have been shocked by this high level of negligence demonstrated by the school authorities and have every reason to fear for the safety of their children under such an administration. There is every reason to suspect that many abuse cases go unreported at the school.
Parents need to be assured that their children are in safe hands of a responsible administration hence the need to clean the rot at Reps.
Online Reporter