In Czech classrooms, abuse hides in plain sight

“Our teacher slept with a student in her third year of high school. He even brought her underwear to class. A classmate caught him in the teachers' lounge, looking at her nude photos. We reported everything. Also, he makes strange comments about my friends and me. In English class, he calls us ‘babes’.” This is one of the 200 testimonies collected by the Czech NGO Konsent as part of its campaign on sexual harassment in schools. “The school management was aware of what was happening, but nothing has ever been done about it. Unfortunately, harassment is common here, so a quarter of the teaching staff would have to be fired,” the anonymous witness added. Konsent's recent research revealed a shocking statistic: at least 1,5% of Czech adults experienced a direct sexual encounter with their teacher while they were still in primary school or high school. In Czechia, the legal age of consent is 15, but any sexual relationship with a student under 18 can be seen as an abuse of authority, which classifies as a criminal offence under Czech law. But the 1,5% figure is only the tip of the iceberg. More “subtle” forms of sexual harassment, such as grooming, flirting, and inappropriate sexual comments from teachers, are a common experience among (mostly female) students. While a clear abuse of power, educational institutions are accepting situations like this in a shockingly casual way, according to the testimonies. While the public largely agrees that none of this should be happening, opinions differ on what should be considered sexual harassment and what is merely “problematic behaviour”. Older generations are leaning strongly towards the latter, according to the Konsent survey. A European problem The problem is not limited to Czechia. A “culture of acceptance” is widespread across Europe – which may also explain why there are almost no comprehensive statistics on the real scale of this issue. France, for instance, recently dealt with more than 100 allegations of sexual…