MoESD Please Protect Our Future Leaders

Monitor Editor | Monday June 13, 2016 12:27

Students on these trips sleep in classrooms, which in most cases are not locked. What do we have to say about the safety of students? We already know we have criminals who are always looking for an opportunity to strike. According to a report carried by Mmegi last week, the student who was raped is only 12 years old. The students were attending a Mathematics and Science fair, which clearly shows the young girl, is a top achiever.

Not too long ago, there was an outcry that the Ministry of Education and Skills Development (MoESD) should take students’ safety seriously after the tragic accident, which took the lives of seven students of Matsha Senior Secondary, wounding many others. Politicians and the civic society pleaded with the ministry to stop using trucks as a mode of transport for students, and now another safety issue arises, where a student was raped while on a school trip. The parents when releasing their child trusted that she would would be safe; but to their dismay the child became a victim of rape. Whose responsibility is it to protect these children when they are on trips, teachers?

How about the safety of teachers? Is it safe for them to be sleeping in unlocked classrooms with the students? Teachers are teachers and that is that; they are not police officers nor are they security personnel, so their safety should also be taken into account, when they supervise students during trips. Lets not try to blame teachers and turn them into super humans who are everything in one, that is teacher, parent, security personnel etc.

How is it that in the dangerous world we live in today, children are still expected to sleep in unlocked classrooms? The young girl who was raped will be scarred for life and the trauma she experienced will haunt her for years to come, and that cannot be taken back, hence the appeal to MoESD to do something about the safety of the children. It is high time the ministry takes responsibility, and ensures that students who go on trips are safe at all costs. The classroom accommodation puts students’ lives in danger, and it is also uncomfortable lodging as the students are made to sleep on hard floors. We humbly plead with MoESD to take the safety of students seriously, and ensure that our future leaders get the best education, in an environment free of fear of being defiled, raped, and abused.