More than 1,000 teachers have been sacked in Kenya for sexually abusing schoolgirls in the past two years.
Gender, Children and Social Development ministry official Ahmed Hussein said most of the victims were rural primary school pupils aged between 12 and 15.
A nationwide confidential helpline set up to help victims had showed that the problem was more widespread than previously thought.
“Initially, we did not know what was happening because of poor communication, but now communication is everywhere — there are mobile phones across the country,” Mr Hussein told the BBC’s Network Africa programme.
Last year, 600 male teachers were dismissed and this year, 550 have lost their jobs for kissing, touching or making girls pregnant.
He said the country had a total teaching force of 240,000. “A number have been taken to court and sentenced accordingly,” Mr Hussein said.
Mr Brian Weke, a programme director for Cradle, a child rights foundation in Kenya, concurred that the problem was widespread.
More than 20 pregnant
He gave the example of a case in Nyanza Province last year. “A primary school had over 20 pregnant girls and the teachers were responsible for over half that number.”
Mr Weke said officials investigating the abuse were not passing on information to get convictions. “Our biggest problem is that district education officers do not
report to the police,” he told the BBC.
The BBC’s Will Ross said guilty teachers often paid parents to avoid going to court.
Source: Daily Nation
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