Child Abuse and Rape of Women - Their Link to Education

| by Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne

( May 12, 2012, Montreal, Sri Lanka Guardian) It was disturbing to read in a recent issue of Colombopage that child abuse and rape of women in Sri Lanka has seen a steady increase in recent years. The Child Development and Womens Affairs Ministry of Sri Lanka is reported to have said that the cases of child abuse and rape of women have increased over the past decade. According to this report, Deputy Child Development and Women Affairs Minister M.L.A.M. Hisbullah has informed the Parliament that at least 6,343 cases of rape and 15,158 child abuses cases have been reported in the past five years. One of the reasons given for this increasing trend is lowering of education standards.

Parents and children make choices about schooling based on the information they have access to, their objectives and constraints. Although not a rule, often the more affluent have more opportunity to make better choices and the poor have limited choices. The answer to improving the quality of education available to a society does not necessarily lie in the expansion of available school facilities. Nor does it depend on flooding the educational system with more teachers or increasing their salary. The solution lies in the adoption by the Government of a coherent, common and positive educational policy. This policy should address several determinants, the first being the increase in per capita income which in turn would lead to better living standards. A proactive policy that would encourage and increase return to school by dropouts is another measure. Increasing spending on infrastructure and learning materials and adopting an expanded vision of future social needs of a society should also be included in the overall policy of education. Above all, education should give a child a sense of hope, a sense of direction, a sense of purpose, and a sense of dignity that would obviate any possibility of his veering towards substance abuse or drug addiction, which are also listed by the Ministry as causative factors for increasing in child abuse and rape of women.

Child abuse is the violence, mistreatment or neglect that a child or adolescent may experience while in the care of someone they either trust or depend on, such as a parent, sibling, other relative, caregiver or guardian. Abuse may take place anywhere and may occur, for example, within the child's home or that of someone known to the child. Physical abuse may consist of just one incident or it may happen repeatedly. It involves deliberately using force against a child in such a way that the child is either injured or is at risk of being injured. Physical abuse includes beating, hitting, shaking, pushing, choking, biting, burning, kicking or assaulting a child with a weapon. It also includes holding a child under water, or any other dangerous or harmful use of force or restraint. Female genital mutilation is another form of physical abuse. Sexual abuse of a child involves using a child for sexual purposes. Examples of child sexual abuse include fondling, inviting a child to touch or be touched sexually, intercourse, rape, incest, sodomy, exhibitionism, or involving a child in prostitution or pornography. Neglect is often chronic, and it usually involves repeated incidents. It involves failing to provide what a child needs for his or her physical, psychological or emotional development and wellbeing. For example, neglect includes failing to provide a child with food, clothing, shelter, cleanliness, medical care or protection from harm. Emotional neglect includes failing to provide a child with love, safety, and a sense of worth.

Emotional abuse involves harming a child's sense of self. It includes acts (or omissions) that result in, or place a child at risk of, serious behavioural, cognitive, emotional or mental health problems. For example, emotional abuse may include verbal threats, social isolation, intimidation, exploitation, or routinely making unreasonable demands. It also includes terrorizing a child, or exposing them to family violence. An abuser may use a number of different tactics to gain access to a child, exert power and control over them, and prevent them from telling anyone about the abuse or seeking support. A child who is being abused is usually in a position of dependence on the person who is abusing them. Abuse is a misuse of power and a violation of trust. The abuse may happen once or it may occur in a repeated and escalating pattern over a period of months or years. The abuse may change form over time.

Rape is commonly defined as forced, unwanted sexual intercourse. Both child abuse and rape are often not about assault or sex but rather they are about power wielded by the physically strong over the weak. They are essentially an effrontery to human dignity. The question at issue is how higher standards of education could help in curbing the increasing trend. If education aids a child and a woman to thrive in a modern society, its contribution could be considered effective. Therefore, education must inculcate a sense of independence and dignity in the vulnerable, and give them the ability to survive without being harmed by their aggressors. This is where the government comes in.

As stated at the outset of this article, the government must have a robust, implementable educational policy which is supported vigorously by stringent laws. There must be a clear statement of objectives for the schooling system, taking into account current social problems; adequate financing for the achievement of the objectives; the policy must promote school autonomy; initiate public sector reforms as necessary; and enforce accountability of parents and teachers. On the legal front the legislature must introduce mandatory reporting laws; create woman and child abuse registries; introduce changes to the Penal Code and the laws of evidence as necessary; extend time limits for laying charges in rape and child sexual abuse cases; and establish protection agencies for women and children.

All this would be ineffective if the education offered does not assure learning. By this I mean there must be emphasis - from the junior grades at school level - on leadership, communication, empathy, teamwork, reflective ability and multiculturalism. The educational policy must adapt expectations to the school’s mission and cultural circumstances by specifying learning goals and demonstrating achievement of learning goals for key management-specific and or appropriate discipline-specific knowledge and skills that its students achieve in each academic program. Bloom’s Taxonomy classifies forms and levels of learning and identifies three learning domains: cognitive – which involves knowledge and intellectual skills; Affective – which involves values and attitudes; and Psycho-motor which involves motor skills. Levels in each domain are sequential. Cognitive or knowledge based learning involves the ability to recall or recognize facts, procedures, patterns or concepts and the development of intellectual abilities and skills. Affective learning is concerned with emotions and feelings, values, appreciation, enthusiasm and motivation and psychomotor abilities involve physical movement, coordination and motor skills.

Child abuse and rape are complex issues which require much more work and attention than a mere theoretical exercise such as this essay. To start with, an effective educational policy must anchor itself on quality teachers who would play a defining role in society. As Lee Iacocca once said: In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something else, because passing civilization along from one generation to the next ought to be the highest honour and the highest responsibility anyone could have”.