In Ghanaian Senior High Schools, 51.9% of female students experienced sexual assault between 2019 and 2021, according to new information.

This information was presented in a report by the Girls Excellent Movement (GEM) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The report which was titled : ” Sheltered yet Exposed”, revealed that 54.3% of these girls fall  between the ages of 17 and 22 while 45.7% were in the 11 and 16 age range.

The story went on to say that the victims had been attacked by friends, family members, classmates, teachers, and strangers.

Amongst the categories of attackers, friends  topped the list with 24%, followed by family friends with 12%, classmates with 12%, teachers with 10%, and strangers with 9%.

Speaking at a gathering sponsored by the Center for Social Justice (CSJ) in Ghana with funding from the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Juliana Ama Kplorfia, the founder and executive director of GEM, listed other groups of sexual assaulters of SHS girls in addition to uncles, cousins, neighbors, fathers, and fathers-in-law.

She attributed some of the causes that exposed the students to these assaults, some of which left them with melancholy, trauma, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and panic attacks, to the development of academic, financial, and mental obstacles. Some of the victims, she continued, end up quitting school.

Kplorfia pleaded with the Ghana Education Service and the Ministry of Education to support the counseling programs in the schools so they can operate successfully to protect young girls from these attackers.

She also pointed out the necessity of removing taxes on sanitary pads and making them freely available for female students, as well as making rape and sexual harassment complaints free of charge.

She asked parents to watch over their kids to prevent them from becoming victims of this situation.