NGO to Fight Child Abuse in Schools throught SMSs

For most people the mobile phone is used for communication, calling friends and relations to socialize or talk business. But a local education lobby group is taking the use of mobile phone short messages (SMS) to unprecedented level – reporting abuse against school children, particularly the girl child. The Forum for African Women Educationists in Malawi (FAWEMA) has launched an interactive mobile phone text message platform to be used for collecting data on violence against school children, and is currently being piloted in two primary schools, Nkhoma and Mwatibu in Lilongwe. For starters, FAWEMA is using the platform to collect data on a child abuse study in areas around Nkhoma and Nathenje in Lilongwe where the two schools are located before it is formally dedicated to reporting and dealing with the problem. Judith Schoot Uiterkamp, country programme officer for the International Institute of Communication and Development (IICD) which is overseeing the technical aspect of the project said as technology continues to grow, there is need adapt to the ever-changing world to ensure efficient data collection on various issues relating to children’s education. “We find that almost everyone has a mobile phone these days. This is a toll free line which teachers, parents and guardians can use to send an SMS to FAWEMA on issues relating to forced marriages, school dropouts and other challenges facing girls’ education in their areas”, she said. She told me the project has been launched after serious consultations with communities to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. “We had many conversations with mother groups, teacher and parents associations and other members of the community to find out the problems of child abuse and the challenges they are facing in addressing them. So we thought of different means to dealing with these problems and found that mobile phones are very effective as they can reach very remote areas and are interactive”, she said. Communities using the platform will be sending SMSs about cases of child abuse in their areas to 55111 and they will be getting responses to enable FAWEMA conduct a proper follow up in consultation with the relevant authorities such as the ministry of gender and social welfare offices. Speaking at the launch of the project an official from the Lilongwe District Education Office Lucien Chikhadza appealed to other well wishers to assist in extending it to other areas of Malawi, adding that his office will render all the necessary support to ensure it is effective. The SMS project is a joint initiative of FAWEMA, Connect for Change, IICD, Edukans and Text for Change, and according to Uiterkamp, it could be made national if the pilot phase in Lilongwe proves worthwhile.