[ Home ] [ Speeches & statements ]

Chairperson,
Honourable Leaders,
Ladies and gentlemen.

I would first of all like to thank all of you for making the effort to be here today. I have met many of you in other circumstances but today we are meeting with some very pressing matters of mutual interest to discuss. The role of Traditional Leaders in the promotion of quality learning and education should not be under-emphasised. Today we will be exploring ways in which we can work together to ensure the best possible education of our young people to prepare them for adulthood, employment and the strains and stresses of the 21st century.

I hope that we will be able to discuss openly and honestly our views and concerns on such matters as school governance, the linkage between initiation schools and public schooling and the whole area of sexuality education.

In this respect, this meeting between my department and Traditional Leaders takes place at a time when our nation is in a state of shock from the relentless spate of abuse of young children, babies, girls and women in some of the most inexcusable of circumstances imaginable. As Minister of Education, I am appalled and deeply saddened by the reports of child rape that have been coming in from the various corners of our country.

For the rapes and abuse to intensify during this period when the whole world is focused on dealing effectively with violence against women and children, as well as HIV/AIDS, should be a clear message to us all that decisive action is called upon - from all of us.

We must also recognise that HIV/AIDS is no longer just a potential threat to the economic development which we all yearn. It is now a real and present threat to the future of all of us, adults and children alike, for many reasons not least of which is the early death of young women and the alarming increase in the number of young orphaned children.

As adults, we are failing the next generation of children who will follow in our footsteps and who will be responsible for the development of our country in years to come.

Our government is pouring money into campaigns to urge discipline and responsibility in sexual relations based, I must add, on the commonly accepted assertion that HIV causes AIDS. We know that you cannot cure HIV/AIDS through the administration of drugs so we need to do all that we can to ensure that we educate our young people about appropriate sexual behaviour and in particular to prevent the spread of the infection. There is one thing we know for certain: No one is cured from the disease by raping a virgin, or a child or a baby. This is a despicable belief and we must do everything in our power to ensure that it does not continue. We will also ensure that those who are guilty of raping and abusing our children and women will be dealt with by the full force of the law and without any prospect of leniency.

My own Department has recently held a conference on Sexuality Education, aimed at drawing teachers into the campaign as well as to work at eliminating sexual abuse and to provide education for our children on this whole topic. The more we learn about what is happening amongst our youth, the more we realise how complex the problem is.

Various studies on teenage sexual activity reveal that our children are sexually active at a very young age - some as young as 12 years. What is even more worrying is evidence of promiscuity. Comments obtained through research indicate that girls and boys change partners fairly regularly, some as often as every three months. In addition, there is the abuse of children, from an early age onwards. This makes for a very gloomy picture indeed.

A transcript of an interview between a community worker and one of the young men in a football team with which she was working is very revealing. This young soccer player said:

"I'm not scared to admit that I have had sexually transmitted diseases more than 5 times. I have never said this to anyone else before. But I trust you. I started sex at an early stage. I was 13 years. I remember one time I had sex without an erection. It was with an old aunt who was teaching me. Where I come from older girls call you. They touch you nicely. And they tell you it is a game for adults that you never talk about to anyone. At the time, it felt very nice. But now that I am hearing all new things about AIDS I regret I did this. I wish I can reverse the situation."

During the 16 Days of Activism on No Violence Against Women and Children, the primary focus was on the abuse of young girls by men. What is less talked about and generally hidden is the abuse of boys by both men and women.

We jointly need to appeal to all young people to abstain from precocious sexual relations. We all accept unquestioningly that it is wrong to physically force our young children to have sex or to abuse them in any way. It is also wrong to use alcohol or even fine words to persuade or induct vulnerable young people to do what they would otherwise not have done.

What our children need at this point is information about the facts of life - early enough for that to be useful. Our children also need to learn about values that teach them to respect others whatever their age. And very importantly the right of girls and young women too say "no" to sex must be upheld.

Ideally, parents should give their children information on sex but very often, they find it difficult to talk about such matters to their children or their children do not want to hear about these issues from their parents. The formal schooling system provides an important and particularly powerful mechanism that allows us access to a captive audience particularly at a period in their lives when they are receptive to learning and acquiring knowledge. I believe that the traditional initiation schools also play a similar role; perhaps a little later in young people's lives but still a potentially powerful role nevertheless.

Through the new National Curriculum Statement, the Department of Education has made a start to ensure that our children do not remain ignorant to the dangers of experimenting with unprotected sex. Those individuals and organisations who write at length to newspapers attacking the Department of Education's policy of providing sexuality education in school (and, incidentally, often completely misrepresenting that policy) are grossly irresponsible. The enormity of the challenge that faces us is very daunting and this is no time to be scoring points off one another.

We must, all of us, join to do what is necessary to protect our children. I am hoping that this meeting will lay the necessary foundation for co-operation between the Ministry of Education and Traditional Leaders - for us jointly to provide the much-needed leadership for our communities. I have dwelt at length on the area of abuse of children and HIV/AIDS because it is one that makes my heart bleed.

We need a national mobilisation to fight the scourge of HIV/AIDS and I dearly hope that all of you together with other leaders in this country will be part of that mobilisation.

The areas for potential co-operation are many and I have no doubt that at the end of this meeting we will have identified the key areas on which we can complement each other's work. The Department of Education stands resolute in its intention to protect children's right to innocence. I hope you can join hands with us - as you have done with the Department of Health - to ensure that in our work, the best interests of the child are of primary consideration. We can and will deliver quality education to the people of this country.

Thank you - I hope we will have fruitful discussions here today.

Issued by: Ministry of Education, 12 December 2001