A sexual favor in exchange for a good grade, passing exams or the promise of being integrated into the establishment… In Madagascar, the new survey, carried out in October 2022, on sexual corruption in schools and universities in the south -east and north-east of the island confirms the results of the very first study on the subject carried out last year. This is a well-established practice.
With our correspondent in Antananarivo, Sarah Tetaud
These two surveys now allow the NGOs Tolotsoa and Transparency international initiative Madagascar, at the initiative of the project, to affirm that this phenomenon is generalized to the whole island, a problem that the authorities have taken care, until now, of ‘to choke.
” My parents didn’t have enough money to pay school. I knew that if they didn’t pay, I would be kicked out. I spoke to the manager about it. He said there was a solution: that I sleep with him. He promised that my mother wouldn’t know. I preferred to quit school… In the presentation video, the testimonies of victims are linked tirelessly.
It’s here data analyst Malala Raonitsoa who analyzed the collected data: “ 66% of people surveyed, children, students, teachers but also parents of students recognize the existence of sexual corruption, even if they have not been personally victims. »
” No complaint has ever been filed »
Yet, the study reports, no complaint has ever been lodged with the juvenile courts of the regions concerned “say the judicial police officers. Omerta reigns.
” Fear of reprisals, shame and social pressure deter victims from filing complaints », Underlines the survey.
Questioned on the subject, the representatives of the Ministry of National Education claim to have discovered the extent of the disaster: “ It’s a topic we’ve been talking about lately.. We only had partial information so far. We are glad that such a study has been published. “says an agent.
” Saying we don’t know is a lie »
However, for Ravo, a teacher and trade unionist in the Sempama confederation, a teachers’ union, ” Saying we don’t know is a lie “. Last year alone, she herself denounced, to her ministry and the Independent Anti-Corruption Office (Bianco), seven proven cases of sexual corruption within her establishment.
” We have been reporting information to the ministry for two years but nothing has changed. We try to bury these things. At the department, we are told that it is impossible to dismiss the person in question because a member of Parliament is pressuring him to remain in office. They are untouchable people, while it is a manager who abuses a child… “, she protests.
More widespread in the public
In Madagascar, corruption is perceived as more widespread in public establishments than in private establishments.
Civil society hopes to have the Bodily Integrity Pact in Education and Higher Education (PICEES) adopted, by means of an interministerial decree, a document that would commit signatory Malagasy schools and universities to ensuring that no act of sexual corruption is practiced by their staff or students and that if a situation were proven, it would be sanctioned.
►Also read : Madagascar: the very contrasting report of the Independent Anti-Corruption Office