246 Million Children Experience GVB in School Annually

An estimated 246 million girls and boys globally experience gender-based violence every year in or around the school according to a new report.

This violence be it sexual, physical, or psychological, is perpetrated by peers, educators, and other school staff, sometimes exploiting children for grades or other favours, the report found.

School-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) includes acts or threats of sexual, physical, or psychological violence occurring in and around school, perpetrated as a result of gender norms and stereotypes, and enforced by unequal power dynamics.

The report noted that girls in particular are disproportionately affected by School-related gender-based violence, SRGBV, both by students and adults – in school, on the way to school, and online. Their experiences need to be heard and their calls to action acted upon to drive change.

In addition, LGBTQI+ students, girls with disabilities and those from other marginalized and discriminated groups, such as religious minorities and indigenous communities are also affected more often.

As a result, this violates children’s and young people’s rights and is a significant barrier for them to access safe, inclusive, quality education. SRGBV harms children and young people’s self-esteem, well-being and ability to learn, undermining hard-fought efforts to transform education for all.

The report dubbed School-related gender-based violence: achieving systemic, sustainable change – with youth and for youth argues that despite the known scale and wide-reaching impacts of SRGBV, as well as the many examples of what works to end it, not enough is being done at the education policy level to end violence in schools, and to recognize and address the gendered drivers and dimensions of violence.

The report has been developed by youth and survivor activists from Transform Education’s Ending SRGBV Collective, the Global Partnership for Education’s Youth Leaders Group and the SAGE Advisory Board to the Brave Movement, supported by the Safe to Learn Global Advocacy Taskforce.