A little while ago, a former student of a prominent mixed school in this country went on a twitter rant about sexism and discrimination against girls in mixed schools.
There over 30 tweets detailing how girls were reportedly despised and abused at the school including calling them men in skirts, objectifying them and making negative comments about their bodies, being denied to hold the position of Head Prefect and ignored all together.
She concludes by saying a society where one gets away with treating girls poorly should not be tolerated or praised.
So is this the universal view of mixed schools? Are they individual experiences? Are girls perpetual victims? Is the situation hopeless?
We did not want to speculate, and so we spoke to some former students of this school and several other schools, so they could shed some light on what girls go through in mixed schools. One of our respondents were among the first female students in this country, the first beneficiaries of co-education in Uganda.
Do not suffer silently, speak out, report any act of bullying or misogyny, sexism and discrimination, the moment it happens, do not wait, says Rhoda Kalema a retired politician, women’s rights activist and old girl of Kings College Budo.
Co-education is part of the battle, she says.
Kalema says since Kings College Budo was turned into a co-educational school in 1933, with just nine girls to start with, it has proved a success and a sound foundation for emancipation of women over generations to this day.
But she is not all sweet words and platitudes. Kalema has some tough advice too. So do the other ladies we spoke to. We also got the education ministry’s voice in.
This is a debate you will want to be a part of; whether you attended a mix school or have a child in one. The social dimensions arising from this also go beyond the school environs into everyday life. Catch up with this debate in this week’s Her Vision section.
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