A report by 'Let's Talk Consent' collected testimonies from 300 students. All had been victims of sexual assault at school.

Let's Talk Consent's founder and report author, Genna Hawkins-Boulton, says victims were confident about reporting their assaults.

However they often still found themselves in the same classes as the assault perpetrators.

Hawkins-Boulton is appalled that schools are not offering pathways to restorative justice.

This is particularly disappointing when victims who had received consent education recognised their experience as sexual assault and followed the advice to report "the person who had hurt them".

Schools are "really struggling" to uphold their duty of care in this regard, Hawkins-Boulton says.

Her report recommends more training so staff can better support victims, revising guidelines so there is a zero-tolerance approach to sexual violence and making consent-based education compulsory.

Hawkins-Boulton thinks schools aren't adequately prepared to handle sexual assault disclosures. A lack of support for those who came forward to report abuse is a result.

"... it's quite a tough environment for a survivor to be in" she says.

In one testimony, a sexual abuse survivor says they approached their school detailing the abuse and its mental health impacts. These included at least four panic attacks a week. They also resulted in a suicide attempt.

Despite speaking out about the attack and identifying the attacker, the sexual abuse survivor was timetabled to share two classes with the attacker the following year.

They were also offered a counselling session with the perpetrator.

Hawkins-Boulton says that is "just a big 'no' in terms of thinking about retraumatisation in survivors."

The survivor left "that school to go somewhere else and that was a massive disruption to learning."

Victim blaming

The report highlighted concerns about victim-blaming.

Sexual abuse survivors say they experienced this, not only from their peers, but also sometimes from staff.

"That's when the disclosure training would [be] really crucial, because you just never want to put the onus on the victim for coming forward," Hawkins-Boulton says.

Pornography

Young people's easy access to pornography is 'incredibly dangerous' Hawkins-Boulton says. It's an important reason for making consent-based education compulsory.

The Let's Talk Consent report referenced a Light Project in 2018. It found 75 percent of New Zealand 14-17-year-olds had seen pornography.

Seventy-three percent of those who watched it said they used it as a learning resource.

Seventy percent believed watching pornography influenced them to view women as sex objects.

Thirty-five percent of pornographic scenes showed coercion.

People are learning about consent through pornography - which often ignores consent, Hawkins-Boulton says.

It "... glamourises sexual assault - and so that is incredibly dangerous."

She thinks both schools and parents should be having tough conversations around pornography literacy. Doing so would provide students with guidance for the rest of their lives, she believes.

"We have to think about what kind of example we are setting for young people, and schools are an environment where tweens kind of grow into young adulthood" she says.

"We have to really create a culture where there is a zero tolerance of sexual violence."

• Counselling and support

Source

• 1 News

"We're going to families whose kids aren't attending, and asking: ‘What can we do to help your son or daughter to get back to school?'" said Wendy Esera, principal at Henderson Intermediate.

"And parents are saying, ‘Look, I haven't got a uniform for them'."

Esera has been in the education sector for over 44 years, and says student poverty is the worst she's seen. Read more

How could this happen in advanced western countries and what lessons can be drawn to avoid this happening in New Zealand? It is becoming urgent that we address these questions as a nation so all New Zealanders are able to live in peace and harmony.

To be sure, the main cause for the rise in Muslim extremism overseas is the brainwashing and radicalisation of Muslims with inaccurate Islamic teachings and ideologies.

To avoid such a dangerous cataclysm, it is imperative New Zealand engages and takes action with its communities and implements a carefully planned education system balanced in enriching Muslims' view of their religion vis-à-vis social cohesion.

The Qur'an, which is the main source of Islam, is a code of conduct.

Anyone who embraces the religion is taught how to live their daily lives.

A good Muslim will care for his fellow humans and the environment.

It is well established that Islam is a religion of peace.

When this basic concept is misunderstood or conveyed erroneously to young and vulnerable minds by mullahs or Islamic teachers fanatically blinded by the narrow outlook of their lives, the breeding of extremism and radicalisation can occur.

The face of New Zealand is changing fast.

We have moved from a colonial monoculture to accepting our bicultural status, then an increasing inflow of migrants and refugees has swiftly been transforming us into a multicultural nation.

Therefore, it is now even more important the diverse group of communities that have their home here are able to live in peace and harmony with a shared and ingrained Kiwi identity.

The current Islamic education system in New Zealand is best described as a Band-Aid to genuine religious education.

No formal Islamic education is taught in schools.

Rather, children are given Islamic education in mosques and Islamic centres at weekends and on weekday evenings by teachers who do not have proper training or experience in Islamic teaching.

Without a proper Islamic education system, parents who want their children to obtain higher Islamic education usually send them to overseas countries like Saudi Arabia or Pakistan, where the children are totally immersed in the system, but at a higher risk of radicalisation from the groups that target these countries of highly concentrated belief.

Conversely, children learning Islamic education at weekends and on weekday evenings are completely separated from their normal school environment and regular curriculum. This unnecessarily creates division among children and has the potential of developing identity crises.

The best result is achieved when a proper balance is struck in imparting Islamic education alongside Kiwi cultural values to Muslim children during a normal school period. Continue reading

• Tahir Nawaz is President of the International Muslim Association of New Zealand and an adjunct research fellow in the School of Education at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.