Mutesi (not real name), 24, becomes immediately bothered when I start asking if any lecturer has ever asked her for sexual favours while she was still at campus.

She in fact gets confused on whom to start with because throughout her three years of study, at least one lecturer ‘hit’ on her per year.

One incident she specifically recalls is when her entrepreneurship lecturer openly asked her to be his girlfriend, saying ‘his quest to find one ended when he set eyes on her.’

"He kept on insisting, sending me texts and asking me to meet him but I just ignored him. I wanted to tell him to stop but I was afraid he would give me a low grade in his class, which would have gravely affected me,” Mutesi said.

Unfortunately, she is not the only one to live in fear of failing classes just because she didn’t accept to date her teacher.

Keza (not real name), 23, also faced the same challenge throughout her study period at one of the private universities in Kigali.

She also said she had the issue with many different lecturers, but the one who shocked her most was one who got her number from the examination attendance list.

"He called me after the exam, and on different occasions he would call and ask to meet somewhere. I didn’t report him because I knew nothing would change, because he surely didn’t do it to me alone. He also had power and connections,” Keza said.

Though unfortunate, they both are among the lucky students who did not fail a class because they turned down sexual favour requests from their lecturers, a practice widely known but swept under the rug.

Some students reportedly earn their marks by agreeing to have sex with their lecturers, even when they would have performed well by due process. Also, stories of how it didn’t end well for those who chose to report are not unheard of.

In a yet to be released Transparency International Rwanda (TIR) report on gender-based corruption (GBC), secondary schools and higher learning institutions are on the spot for high GBC, at 36.1 percent and 42.6 percent respectively.

GBC, or "sextortion”- as coined by the International Association of Women Judges to describe these abuses of authority in which sex is the currency of the bribe, is a nexus between corruption and sexual exploitation, where students and employees are potential victims.

Varsities, therefore, have led the report for several years, and stories of GBC are never-ending, even among people that are close to us. However, only a few cases of people report, if at all.

Speaking to The New Times, Executive Director for Higher Education Council (HEC), Rose Mukankomeje, said there haven’t been any reports of GBC from students, at least on their side.

"The problem is that they don’t report. But we have plans to meet TIR and discuss more about the report and what we can do to better eradicate this malpractice,” Mukankomeje said.

Mukankomeje also highlighted that although codes of conduct may vary depending on schools, there is no specific policy on how to handle GBC in varsities.

"Even if they reported to us, there would have to be an investigation process. We would then advise the students to go to Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB),” she said.

She added that students need to be trained on how to denounce sexual favours requested by their superiors and to report them, so that offenders don’t get to come in contact with students again.

But some students fear to report out of fear that the situation may be worse. Keza said that at her school, she wouldn’t have known where to raise the issue.

"Most of the time you can’t trust the people you report to since you might find they are friends with the person you are reporting,” she said.

Mutesi said that such cases are very well known by everyone at campus, but no efforts are made to address them. She believes that if prioritised, GBC can be eradicated.

Indeed, TIR has it in their records that in 2019, an extraordinary senate meeting at the country’s national and largest university, University of Rwanda (UR), raised a red flag against corruption in education, alleging that some of its lecturers were seeking sexual favours from students in exchange for better grades. Nevertheless, reports of it happening still persist until now.

Among recommendations suggested by TIR’s Program Manager, Albert Rwego Kavatiri, is ensuring the safety of informants through confidentiality and, if necessary, physical protection.

"Concerned institutions should organise campaigns that specifically target these institutions and sensitise them to put in place internal mechanisms that promote integrity and values,” he noted.