THEMBELIHLE Zulu, a female student at National University of Science and Technology (NUST), broke down on the podium while she delivered her testimony.
Deep emotions engulfed her, her whole body visibly shook.
An invitation to a Female Students Network Organisation (FSN) gave this writer the opportunity to hear experiences of some of the female tertiary students from different institutions across the country.
The student was one of many who shared their experiences under the ambit of FSN.
Student after student shared their experiences of various forms of abuse.
But as they spoke, they were not mere victims, they were survivors.
These were students who, with support from FSN, were speaking out against the evils perpetrated against the girl-child in our citadels of knowledge.
The sadness of the event was lightened by the fact that the students have made a vow not to be broken by the unfortunate circumstances they have found themselves in.
“We are survivors and we will not allow sex predators to derail our dreams, we have aspirations and ambitions that we are determined to see come to fruition,” said a student who spoke on condition of anonymity.
So bad are some of the cases of abuse that students like Zulu ended up completing her four-year undergraduate degree in six years.
According to her testimony, the harassment by her dissertation supervisor forced her to shelve her studies.
“I had to take a break from studies to recover from the ordeal,” she said.
In acknowledgment of the problem and in a bid to stop the harassment of female students, deans of students at various tertiary institutions said they had initiated policies that seek to deal with cases of sexual harassment.
Dean of students at Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE) RK Makadho said BUSE has a sexual harassment policy and did not tolerate the abuse of female students.
The university has since parted ways with three lecturers fingered in cases of sexual harassment.
To empower women, he said, “The position of vice-president in the Student Representative Committee (SRC)has been reserved for a female.”
At Nyadire Teacher’s College, the dean of students, Tendai Kapfunde, said if the SRC president is female, the vice-president automatically becomes a male and vice-versa.
Dean of students at Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) Sarafina Mudavanhu said it was disturbing that cases of sexual harassment were becoming prevalent in most tertiary institutions.
“Cases of sexual harassment have been reported at GZU while others are not reported,” she said.
But what exactly is sexual harassment?
Sexual harassment is defined as an unwelcome behavior of a sexual nature.
This therefore implies that it can come in the form of verbal, non-verbal and physical forms.
Many might not know what is really involved in sexual harassment; therefore they remain silent about it.
Verbal innuendos of sexual harassment include even doing things that many take as unimportant, for example whistling at someone, making sexual comments about a person’s body and constantly asking out a person who is not interested.
Staring at someone, making suggestive facial expressions such as winking, throwing kisses, or licking lips are non-verbal insinuations that many can do while physical harassment involves contact that is touching the person’s clothing, hair or body.
Sexual harassment of tertiary students is so rampant yet many students decide to remain quiet for different reasons that include fear of failing, victimisation or discrimination and being ignorant of the abuse.
It is against this background that FSN, a non-governmental organisation, is advocating policies against sexual harassment in tertiary institutions.
It is also against this background that FSN, with support from the Ministry of Gender, managed to win a UNESCO award of US$50 000.
UNESCO regional representative, Dr Patience Awopegba, present at the conference, said out of 53 countries that submitted their proposals, Zimbabwe and Indonesia were selected.
“Zimbabwe’s FSN and Indonesia were selected out of 53 countries.
“It is the first UNESCO prize of this nature and will be unique in promoting successful projects that improve and promote educational prospects for girls and women,” she said.
Supported by the government of China, the UNESCO prize is an empowerment initiative meant to advance girls and women’s education, thereby supporting Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) four and five.
Sustainable Development Goal four promotes inclusiveness and quality education, while SDG five promotes gender equality.
According to UNESCO, about 16 million girls have not set foot in the classroom worldwide.
Female Students Network Trust (FSNT) is an organisation which works with all female students from all walks of life in tertiary institutions, inclusive of disabled female students.
One of its missions is to advocate a favourable learning environment through students’ activism and advocacy capacities of female students in tertiary education institutions.