Violence in schools in Africa: prevalence, impacts, and potential solutions
Preventing violence in and around school is a moral imperative. It is also essential to reap the benefits from education and ensure children’s well-being.
Preventing violence in and around school is a moral imperative. It is also essential to reap the benefits from education and ensure children’s well-being.
We investigate mechanisms that influence the effects of parental HIV on the education of children. The study was conducted at Mashambanzou Care Trust in Harare, Zimbabwe. We sampled low-income HIV-positive and HIV-negative mothers who had a total of 71 children in their care.
School-related violence is a major challenge in many low- and middle-income countries. This is well established by surveys that - if anything - likely underestimate the prevalence of violence in schools.
Growing evidence from multiple countries in Africa documents sexual violence in schools. However, when that violence is committed by teachers it is shrouded in secrecy.
Out-of-school CSE holds the promise of reaching those left behind. In each of the countries, locally adapted interventions consider the needs, life experiences and vulnerabilities of left-behind groups of young people.
The United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative’s (UNGEI) Gender at the Centre Initiative (GCI) is an international collaboration between civil society and international organizations, aimed at promoting gender equality in education across eight pilot countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
The education sector needs to know more and do more about violence in schools. Children are exposed to staggering levels of physical, psychological, and sexual violence, perpetrated by teachers, other adults, and students.
Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) seeks to improve young people’s knowledge, attitudes and practices in relation to sexual and reproductive health, sexual and social relationships, and dignity and rights.
This report presents the findings of a research project on school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) conducted by Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the Institute for Development (IfD) in partnership with UNICEF Sierra Leone and its partners, Community Initiatives for Rural Development (
This study characterises rates of physical and sexual violence against adolescent girls and compares rates of violence against girls who are enrolled versus unenrolled in school, to contribute to an understanding of the relative risks associated with school attendance.