Stigma forces Dreams beneficiaries out of school
SEX workers who benefited from the Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-Free, Mentored, and Safe (DREAMS) initiative funded by USAid and coordinated by the National AIDS Council (NAC) are dropping out of school due to stigma.
The DREAMS initiative is a programme that seeks to help sex workers by providing comprehensive care package, including entrepreneurship, mentoring, life and employability skills, vocational skills training, financial literacy, sexual and reproductive education and protection services from gender based violence.
This came out at a NAC stakeholders meeting held in Gweru on Wednesday.
Addressing the meeting, NAC Gweru District AIDS coordinator Mr Murari Hwingwiri said most repentant sex workers who had gone back to school with the help of the DREAMS initiative were dropping out, claiming they were being stigmatised.
“The thing is, these girls come from communities where they are already labelled as prostitutes,” he said.
“So, when they go to school, people still see them as prostitutes and not students. Some teachers even solicit for sex from the reformed girls because of their past.”
Mr Hwingwiri said in some instances, parents approached the school authorities to have the girls withdrawn claiming that they could be bad influence to their children.
“Sometimes the challenge comes from parents whose kids learn in schools which the girls are attending,” he said.
“Parents do not want their children mingling and mixing with those girls, hence they are segregated.
“This has impacted negatively on the DREAMS initiative programme as those girls end up going back to prostitution.”
Mr Hwingwiri said there was need for awareness campaigns to educate communities against stigma.
“People in communities should be taught on the effects of stigma so that these young girls can also get education without fear of being segregated,” he said.
Over 60 000 young girls and adolescence nationwide are benefiting from the DREAMS initiative, which was launched in 2015.