TEACHERS ENLISTED IN GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE FIGHT

A number of teachers in Kalumbila district of North-western province will be engaged in the fight against Gender Based Violence (GBV).

International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Assistant Programmes Officer, Cephas Njobvu in an interview in Kalumbila said his organisation would engage teachers in a bid to challenge norms and cultural practices that perpetuate GBV.

“We have picked on the teachers because we realise that one form of GBV that has escalated in our community is child marriage. Mostly, children who are married off young are in school, so we want to challenge this from the school perspective,” Mr Njobvu said.

He also took note of cultural norms and practices which hinder children from freely expressing themselves to confide only in their teachers on personal level.

“Teachers are most likely to be approached by children who want to share personal experiences such as abuse because the abuse usually occurs in a family setting,” Mr Njobvu said.

He said it would be prudent for teachers to be armed with information on the various forms of GBV as well as referral mechanisms so as to adequately sensitise children as early as possible.

Mr Njobvu said that the teacher engagement programme would commenced yesterday and it is targeted at 120 teachers in the district.

The targeted teachers are from four Matebo, Mutanda, Kisasa and Manyama zones respectively, in groups of 30 people in each zone.

– ZANIS