Author: Kweku Joseph Prah
Teacher, Social Sciences Department,
Kwegyir Aggrey Senior High School, Anomabo, Ghana.
Abstract
Student sexual abuse is a reality in our senior high schools and the perception is that the issue is on the rise. To find how grievous sexual abuse in senior high schools is, the study examined the causes of sexual abuse in public senior high schools. The research was conducted in four (4) different public senior high schools in the Mfantsiman Municipality as one case study. Simple size of 403 students and 20 teachers as participants were employed for the study, simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques were used to select the respondents. A structured questionnaire was used to solicit data from the respondents. Data were coded into Statistical Product for Service Solution (SPSS version 17) software programme in the computer to give the analysis of the information. The data were presented in the form of percentages and frequency tables to facilitate clearer and easier interpretation of results for the presentation of findings. Perceptions from the respondents of the study indicate that sexual abuse is frequent and female students are mostly the victims of sexual abuse and teachers are the most perpetrators. In the view of the respondents factors responsible for sexual abuse are; age, gender, care arrangement/parental absence, substance abuse and parental level of education, school and schooling environment, demographic risk factor/unemployment of parent, poverty and poor parent- student relationship. The causes of student sexual abuse according to the respondent perception are rooted in the structural, economic and socio-cultural context within our social fibre. Perhaps, today, our senior high schools present a prime target for perpetrators of sexual abuse because most schools have few, if any protective barriers in place.
Keywords: Perception, Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Students, Senior High Schools (SHS)
