Lecturers and teachers are demanding sex from their female students in exchange for marks, the latest survey by the Transparency International - Rwanda has revealed.

According to the report of the survey, which was conducted between February and November, several female students in universities and secondary schools get free marks from their teachers in exchange for sexual favours, calling into question the credibility of some of the youth entering the labour market.

In some cases, lecturers undertake research projects and compile the findings for students, the report, released last week, adds. These students later use their first class honours degrees to secure some of the best jobs in the private and public service, including sensitive areas such as the health sector.
They are not, however, qualified for the positions and are unable to cope with the challenges related to their new jobs, the report adds.

Do not report the vice

It further accuses some lecturers of denying female students marks if the latter decline to yield to their sexual advances. In secondary schools, the report says, young girls get good marks after sleeping with their male teachers.

A lecturer at private university in Kigali who did not want to be identified conceded that sex for marks is a phenomenon known to everybody, including the students’ parents.

Most female students who are victims of such sexual harassment do not report it for fear of reprisals, the survey by the anti-corruption watchdog found.
The study follows revelations elsewhere in the report that 82.6 per cent of the people in Rwanda who encountered corruption did not report it.

Reacting to the report, a former law student at the National University of Rwanda explained that while campus students accuse lecturers of demanding sex for marks, female students were also partly to blame for not working hard enough.

“Some of them are not serious; they don’t go to class and at the end of the day want better grades. Some lecturers will obviously take advantage,” explains the 28-year-old former student at NUR.

She also revealed that some female students actively seduce their male lecturers so as to win favours from them.

One student at Kigali Institute of Management claimed that, despite her having passed her examinations, the lecturer altered her marks after she refused to give in to his sexual advances.

On male students, the report added that some students get good grades that they do not deserve because they were either bought alcohol or gave gifts to their lecturers. Education Ministry officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

Although the country has scored better in its campaign against corruption and is the least corrupt in the East African region, cases of bribery at lower levels linger on, according to TI.

The report singled out vocational institutions and the police department as the most corrupt in both public and private sectors in Rwanda. The corruption index in the country, the anti-corruption watchdog says, rose to 30.6 per cent from 23.6 per cent a year before. The situation has, however, generally improved over the past five years.