How Is This Permitted to Continue

Shocking is all I can say:

In a report on school violence released yesterday, the commission says schools are the "single most common" site of crimes against children, such as robbery and assault, including rampant sexual violence, some of it by teachers.

It says it has identified several disturbing games that pupils play in response to the violence.

One cited in the report is a game played by seven-year-old children called "rape me, rape me", in which they pretended to sexually assault each other.

"This game demonstrates the extent and level ... brutalisation of the youth has reached, and how endemic sexual violence has become in South Africa," it says.

A fifth of all sexual assaults on young people occur at school. A survey of 1227 female students who were victims of sexual assault found nearly 9 per cent of them were attacked by teachers, the report says.

"An area of serious concern was that of an educator accused of sexual assault or rape, who remained teaching the alleged victim, pending disciplinary measures taken," it says.

Britain's The Guardian newspaper reported the commission also found some boys had committed what they called "corrective rape" on lesbians, justifying the assault by claiming it would make the victims heterosexual.

"There is a growing phenomenon of corrective rape. This refers to an instance where a male learner rapes a lesbian female learner in the belief that after such a sexual attack, the learner will no longer be lesbian," the report says.

The Guardian cited a separate study by the Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Program that found a quarter of secondary school students thought forced sexual intercourse did not necessarily constitute rape.

Bullying goes on in schools all over the world, but this is just shameful. There are lots of heads that need to roll and more than a few prosecutions that need to happen.

Hat Tip: Besty Newmark.