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Thursday, September 6, 2018
According to a new UNICEF report, half of the world's 13-15-year-old students, 150 million adolescents, reported being bullied in the past month or in a physical fight. . In addition, half of the children live in countries that allow some form of corporal punishment in school, putting 720 million children at risk of violence from their teachers.
These are the findings of a UNICEF report released this week, "An Everyday Lesson: #ENDviolence in Schools," which compiled its own survey data and combined it with information on school violence collected in various countries. The report states that for many children, schools are dangerous areas where they can be beaten, slapped, intimidated, sexually assaulted, physically punished, humiliated or ridiculed by their peers.
"Violence against children is universal, in every country, in every context," says Claudia Cappa, Senior Statistic Advisor at UNICEF, who analyzed the data for the report. "At the same time, it manifests itself in a very different way."
According to the report, bullying is the most prevalent form of violence in schools. According to the report, in some parts of Cambodia, Viet Nam and Nepal, humiliating language and harassment by other students were the most frequent complaints of students who considered their school to be dangerous. In Ethiopia, Peru and India, children reported that physical and verbal abuse by their peers and teachers was the main reason they did not like school.
The report found that children particularly vulnerable to violence and intimidation were children with disabilities, migrants, poor children and children who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
Intimidation is only one of the manifestations of violence that children face in and around schools. Cappa says that in some places, the gangs and weapons they use make it impossible to go to school. According to a 2016 report on crime in Jamaica, Jamaica, for example, gang violence was responsible for 24 of the 59 children under 17 murdered in 2015.
Stephan Brock, School Psychologist, Professor at California State University, Sacramento and author of Prevention and intervention in case of school crisis.
"Children around the world are leaving their homes because of chronic gang violence," says Brock, who is not related to the UNICEF project. "This report shows the extent of the problem".
The report also documents sexual violence that may be part of a school day. In Kenya, one in five women and men who reported having experienced sexual violence before the age of 18 said the first incident occurred at school, according to the report.
The report points out that in developing countries lacking adequate sanitation facilities, schoolchildren are at risk when they apologize for going to the bathroom.
Children may be left alone in poorly lit and unlit facilities when they leave the classroom. "In Africa and parts of Asia, there are places where there are no sanitary facilities, people do not have privacy, and this is "It's not safe for kids," says Cappa.
It's not just kids who hurt other kids in school. Violence can come from teachers. September 3, according to a report by The Guardian, A 13-year-old boy died in Tanzania after being beaten by his teacher, who accused the boy of stealing a teacher's handbag. Tanzanian law allows corporal punishment in schools. About 720 million children worldwide live in countries that do not offer protection against corporal punishment in school.
The report's conclusions are bleak, but recent trends give reason for hope. For example, out of the 70 countries UNICEF works with, 61% had policies to address school violence in 2017, up from 37% in 2014. Indonesian students have banded together to help reduce child labor. harassment. resulting in a 30% reduction in bullying during his first year. And in Jordan, thanks to a government program to ensure the safety of students, some 5,000 students are now boarding buses to attend school rather than facing the potential dangers of violence during a march. school.
In developing countries, says Cappa, there is a movement to involve children themselves in the fight against violence in schools. Supported by UNICEF, student-run peace clubs in Côte d'Ivoire, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo have joined more than 300,000 students since 2013. Children work with parents and teachers to create radio programs, -violence in schools.
And in Tanzania, there are now calls for the end of corporal punishment in schools.
Susan Brink is an independent writer who covers health and medicine. She is the author of The fourth quarterand co-author of A change of heart.
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