The youngest children are the ones most at risk — and less likely to report it.

More than 40% of primary school learners in Khayelitsha township, in Cape Town, have experienced sexual violence at the hands of other learners or teachers in the past year, a new Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) study has found.

The research surveyed about 1700 primary and high school learners from 20 schools in the township. The study reveals that primary school children are at a higher risk of abuse than their older peers. Classrooms, bathrooms and sports fields were hotspots for sexual abuse and girls were more likely to experience sexual violence than boys, the survey showed. The study is one of the largest of its kind and its findings are generalisable, meaning they can be applied to the township as a whole — not just the schools in which it was conducted.

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