Too often in silence: a report on Gender Based Violence in Schools in West and Central Africa
| Authors | Type | Stream | Full Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laetitia Antonowicz, Catherine Flagothier, Vanya Berrouet, Joachim Theis, Yumiko Yokozeki, Stefanie Conrad, Victorine Kemonou Djitrinou, Soumahoro Gbato | Open call | Violence |  en |
Aim of this research
This report aims at establishing a more coherent and consistent knowledge base with regards to violence in and around education settings in West and Central Africa (WCA). It is complemented by a document presenting selected responses to school-based violence in the region.
Scope of the study
The study covers violence against girls and boys in educational settings from nursery school to higher education, in West and central Africa.
This review focuses on corporal and degrading punishment, sexual violence, exploitation and abuse. It looks also at bullying, physical and psychological violence among students.
It presents causes and effects of violence on children themselves, on their family and society. The impact on education is also analysed as well as the existing legal and institutional framework to combat school based violence in the region.
Methodology
This desk review draws on evidence found in the global literature and in studies from across the West and Central Africa region. Three categories of documents were reviewed: (i) academic and non-academic ethnographic literature about children in WCA; (ii) national, regional and international studies and reports about school-based violence and (iii) general literature about Education for All and child protection.
Field personnel of the four organisations which commissioned the study were also interviewed.
Limitations
The variety in methodologies and in the scope of available national studies across the region did not allow for systematic comparative analysis of patterns and trends as regard violence against children in education settings.
The evidence presented pertains mainly to primary and secondary educational settings, mostly public schools. Insufficient data were available at pre-school level, in education settings for children with special needs, and in community schools.
The shortage of existing research made it difficult to establish a clear overview on existing legal protection systems for children from gender-based violence (GBV) in educational settings.
The insufficient number of policy implementation and program assessment as regards violence against children in education settings was an obstacle to provide evidence on what works and what does not in addressing the issue in the region.
Research findings
School- based violence is multifaceted and embedded in violence at family, community, national and international levels. Gender Based Violence at school reflects socially ingrained gender-based power disparities which exist both inside and outside the classroom. It is grounded in social norms and gender based socialization dynamics prevalent in parts of West and Central Africa, where male violence is widely accepted, and female submission encouraged.
Girls in and around schools across the region, are particularly vulnerable to three forms of violence: (i) sexual violence, (ii) sexual abuse and (iii) sexual exploitation. Other forms of marginalization, such as extreme poverty or disability, can increase girls’ vulnerability.
All available studies confirm that victims of sexual abuse are mostly girls and that abuse in the region is perpetrated mostly by men, be they teachers or school staff, other men from the community (young men, soldiers at check points, bus drivers, sugar daddies), or male students. There is no common ranking in frequency of perpetrators across the region. Abuse happens in schools as well as on the way to/from school and in teachers’ houses.
Data vary greatly across the region on the prevalence of sexual exploitation; however the vocabulary used to describe sexual exploitation practices in schools reveals to a certain extent the prevalence of the problem and tends to trivialise the exploitation. The most commonly reported practice of sexual exploitation is sex for grades, usually involving a male member of staff and a girl student.
The persistence of sexual violence in schools may partly be explained by the dearth of female teachers in both primary and secondary schools, by the absence of a legal frameworks and norms as regards violence in educational settings.. This is aggravated by inadequate school infrastructures and biases within curricula where violence is trivialised.
Among the main consequences of sexual violence is unwanted early pregnancies, which can be detrimental to both maternal and child health and seriously compromise girls education. GBV is also one of the most common causes of girls’ school dropout and therefore a constraint to both their economic and social participation.
Initiatives to tackle the issue in WCA cover several dimensions: capacity development of key players; partnerships; communication and mobilisation for social change; service delivery in prevention and response; laws, policies, standards and regulations; accountability mechanisms. Still, interventions to overcome school violence in education settings need to be strengthened in order to achieve Education for All and MDGs.
