The Education Ministry has drafted another regulation to increase school safety by limiting access. Like many of the challenges facing this country today, the roots of South Africa's dysfunctional schools can be traced to the 1970s and '80s, the days of apartheid. Schools were politicized and discredited, teachers demoralized. Many never fully recovered. We find that some school gates are wide open.
People come and go, stealing, disrupting learning.
The low status of women in South African culture, together with poverty and violence in many communities, further contributes to the hostile environment for girls and undermines their ability to protect themselves. A survey of 2,000 teenagers last year found that 39 percent of sexually active teenage girls reported being raped. About one-third of sexually active teenage girls reported being afraid of saying no to sex. And 16 percent of sexually active teenage girls admitted to having traded sex for money, drinks, food, or other gifts. The AIDS epidemic further threatens girls' safety.