South Africans have been outraged by this incident. They were asked to describe how they would get an actor to maximize the horror of the rape of a baby, using a broomstick and loaf of bread as props.
Anti-rape activists and the author of the play, Lara Foot Newton, have said the question was "insensitive".
Ms Foot Newton's award-winning play 'Baby Tshepang' is based on the actual rape of a nine-month old by her mother's boyfriend.
South Africa's Education Department has defended the question's inclusion in the paper, sat by students on Monday.
"Nowhere is it expected of the candidate to have to literally describe the actual act of raping a nine-month-old baby," it said in a statement.
It was aimed at assessing the pupils' concept of using metaphor as a theatrical technique, it said.
The internal moderators for the exam paper said it was a "valid and fair" question.
Preposterous!!!
Students were so disturbed by the question. Read some reactions below;
"Everyone was in shock that we were asked such a question. It was so gruesome and we were not sure how to answer it," South Africa' Times newspaper quotes a Durban pupil as saying.
"While drama is all encompassing, we never expected such a question or topic. This is sickening to say the least," one pupil, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the paper.
"How does a 17-year-old describe the rape of a baby? We have been forced to imagine the unimaginable."
Another pupil said one of her friends was most upset as she had a younger sister who had been sexually abused.
Rape trauma counsellor, Michelle Smith, agreed it was "incredibly insensitive to the thousands of children who are being sexually abused daily".
"You cannot put something like this in an exam paper and call it raising awareness," the Witness quoted her as saying.
For me I'd say this is sick, very sick of whoever set the question and more sick of the examination board that approved it. What are they putting in the minds of teenagers? It's traumatic. I cant...
Preposterous!!!
Students were so disturbed by the question. Read some reactions below;
"Everyone was in shock that we were asked such a question. It was so gruesome and we were not sure how to answer it," South Africa' Times newspaper quotes a Durban pupil as saying.
"While drama is all encompassing, we never expected such a question or topic. This is sickening to say the least," one pupil, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the paper.
"How does a 17-year-old describe the rape of a baby? We have been forced to imagine the unimaginable."
Another pupil said one of her friends was most upset as she had a younger sister who had been sexually abused.
Rape trauma counsellor, Michelle Smith, agreed it was "incredibly insensitive to the thousands of children who are being sexually abused daily".
"You cannot put something like this in an exam paper and call it raising awareness," the Witness quoted her as saying.
For me I'd say this is sick, very sick of whoever set the question and more sick of the examination board that approved it. What are they putting in the minds of teenagers? It's traumatic. I cant...
What do you guys think???
No comments:
Post a Comment