Evidence from 30% of the world’s children and youth shows they experience less violence with higher levels of educational attainment, and now additional data can pinpoint specific actions to keep kids safe at school.
Children spend the majority of their time in and around school settings which makes schools ideal for promoting safe and inclusive environments that foster learners’ wellbeing.
However, an estimated 246 million girls and boys experience some form of violence in and around schools every year. School-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) includes acts or threats of sexual, physical, or psychological violence occurring in and around schools. SRGBV can also occur online. This grave issue is rooted in gender inequality, patriarchy, and harmful gender norms. As microcosms of society, schools reflect the gendered drivers and dimensions of violence.
But there is hope. Violence is preventable, change is possible.
Uncovering key facts and the most promising solutions to prevent SRGBV
School settings are hugely significant in children’s development and socialization, making them ideal venues for challenging harmful social norms around violence and gender equality.
With special attention to low and middle-income countries, we reviewed a variety of programs and focused on two strategies - Safe Environments and Education and Life skills. Our analysis shows that regardless of the type of intervention, several factors are consistently shown to be crucial in preventing sexual violence against children:
- Programs that are developmentally appropriate or age- and gender-specific
Programs targeting children that are delivered over several sessions, physically interactive, and participatory
Programs that are holistic and address the multiple factors that contribute to violence- supporting norms and behaviours
National response integrated into broader protection systems for children and adolescents
Education and life skills
Safe environments
Being safe at school leads to positive learning outcomes
We also undertook a secondary analysis of the VACS - the largest source of data on violence against children and youth in the world.
The results show that fear of violence was the single largest reason for children disliking school. Across 8 countries the data also revealed a positive relationship between violence and levels of education: child marriage, pregnancy, and harmful gender norms and stereotypes were less common for females attending or completing secondary school (or higher). The endorsement of wife beating was also less common for both females and males with a minimum level of secondary education.
These data make it clear that efforts to create safe and supportive school environments are essential in promoting educational access and completion. Violence prevention and response should be integrated into education policy and programming to ensure safe schools for all students.
Recommendations for strengthening research
Our systematic review of what works to end sexual violence against children and youth, and SRGBV more broadly, covered a variety of interventions such as adolescent intimate partner violence prevention programs, empowerment and self-defence programs, school-based educational programs to prevent child sexual abuse, programs for bystanders, safe school environment interventions and education programmes for adults who interact with children.
However the evidence review also highlights some serious gaps in the body of evidence:
- Age and life-course development: there is, for example, very little clarity about what works for young children versus adolescents.
- Gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation: there is limited information on effective interventions for LGBTQI and gender-diverse children and adolescents
- Intersectionality: overall, there is a significant lack of evidence on what works to prevent sexual violence when taking into account intersecting structural inequalities based on race, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability and citizenship status; research in these areas is urgently needed.
- Effects of combined interventions on preventing various kinds of violence against children—including sexual violence
- The impact of policies and programs to prevent sexual violence in conflict/post-conflict/humanitarian settings
- Online sexual violence
- Intersections between violence against children and women
Accurate and comprehensive data on gendered patterns of SRGBV is invaluable. As the types of violence expand with technology, children and youth, in all their diversity, can provide insights into their experiences of school violence, new forms of school violence and who are most vulnerable.
Data paired with advocacy can drive effective solutions to prevent and respond to all types of SRGBV, particularly sexual violence against children and youth.