The purpose of the Protocol for the management and reporting of sexual abuse and harassment is to provide schools, districts and provinces with standard operating procedures for addressing allegations, and to specifically detail how schools must respond to reports of sexual abuse and harassment perpetrated against learners, educators and other school staff. Schools are mandated to assist victims of sexual abuse and harassment by following standard reporting procedures and through the provision of appropriate support to learners. This protocol therefore serves to ensure a safe, caring and enabling environment for learning and teaching, both inside and outside of the classroom. The protocol prescribes an approach that enables educators and employees of the DBE to identify, intervene, report and provide support to all learners and school staff who are sexually abused or harassed in school, whilst offering an appropriate response to perpetrators of sexual abuse and harassment. Thus, apart from the step-by-step mechanisms for the reporting of incidents of sexual abuse and harassment, it also outlines the process for sanctioning perpetrators of sexual abuse and harassment. This protocol applies to all schools within the Republic of South Africa.