E/P education officials probe reports of ‘sexual’ abuse of Chinunda teachers

THE Eastern Province Education office has dispatched a team of senior education officers to investigate reports from Chinunda School in Chipangali district that teachers are allegedly being sexually abused. Provincial education officer Allan Lingambe told journalists yesterday that when he received the complaint from teachers alleging that some of them have found semen in their genitals when they wake up in the morning, he quickly informed DEBS Chipangali and Chipata to investigate the matter and give him a report.

As you may be aware, some things are difficult to prove, especially issues to do with witchcraft, you can never prove them. Either there is someone who is trying to frame a story because they don’t want to stay at Chinunda being a rural school or it could be true that they are being abused, he said.

What we have agreed is that once we establish that it really happened then we are going to engage the chief in that area to help us resolve the issue.

Dr Lingambe said some female teachers want to leave the school.

I received a report from the head teacher that there were some female teachers who are saying that they can’t live in a bush and that story apparently has emanated from the same teachers who are bringing those complaints, said Dr Lingambe.

But we don’t want to throw it away that it’s not happening. It could be true, but also we don’t want to say it’s true until we establish the truth. Then we’ll tell the nation the true prevailing situation at that school.