A report jointly conducted by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Girls Excellent Movement (GEM) has revealed that 51.9% of female students in Ghanaian Senior High Schools were victims of sexual assaults from 2019 to 2021.
Titled “Sheltered yet Exposed,” the report disclosed that 54.3% of the assaulted girls were aged between 17 and 22, while 45.7% fell within the 11 to 16 age brackets.
The assaults were reportedly carried out by friends, family friends, schoolmates, teachers, and strangers. Friends constituted the majority of perpetrators at 24%, followed by family friends at 12%, schoolmates at 12%, teachers at 10%, and strangers at 9%.
Juliana Ama Kplorfia, Founder and Executive Director of GEM, highlighted uncles, cousins, neighbors, fathers, and fathers-in-law as additional groups responsible for sexual assaults on SHS girls.
She attributed these incidents to academic, financial, and mental challenges, resulting in depression, trauma, bipolar disorder, anxiety, panic attacks, and sometimes leading victims to drop out of school.
Kplorfia urged the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service to enhance the counseling units in schools and emphasized the importance of making rape and sexual harassment reporting free of charge.
Additionally, she called for the removal of taxes on sanitary pads and their provision to female students at no cost. Kplorfia urged parents to be vigilant and keep a close eye on their children to protect them from sexual predators.