Is Senegal ready to listen to adolescent girls?

In October 2017, I traveled to a small village in southern Senegal. I was there to investigate persistent allegations of sexual abuse in secondary schools. There I met 16-year-old Aïssatou, who told me that her teacher had approached her at the beginning of the school year. “He told me, ‘What’s your name? Where are you from? I like you a lot.’ I told him ‘I don’t like you. I don’t go out with teachers.’” This appeared to be a common practice, the girls I interviewed told me. And not everyone felt able to be as forthright as Aïssatou in fending off the teacher. We heard similar stories in other…

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