What role can schools play in ending violence and sexual harassment? | Educational News

When will it be safe for a woman to walk home at night without being attacked or threatened by men? And when will we arrive when all the women in their homes are safe from their partners? When will schools and workplaces be free of gender-based violence? How can we use the power of education to reverse these rules?

A few months later, they reminded us again how vulnerable women are in the face of violence and harassment. Following the tragic murder of Sarah Everard in the UK, there was a senseless shooting of six Asian American women in the state of Georgia. In February, 317 Nigerian girls and boys were abducted in the northwestern state of Zamfara in Barbara. In India, the September 2020 gang rape and the subsequent death of a 19-year-old Dalit woman kept people in turmoil in the Uttar Pradesh Hathras district, when a New Delhi high court judge angered one who allegedly raped a school-aged victim. In Australia, former government employee Brittany Higgins said she was raped by a male colleague in the office of a government minister in 2019. Meanwhile, men’s government staff have reportedly set up a Facebook group to share videos of sexual acts committed in Parliament by Canberra.

Violence and sexual assault against girls and women are more common than previously thought. Globally, about 1 in 3 women has experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime.

On Everyone’s Invited’s Instagram page, in an online campaign against rape culture in the UK, girls and boys have shared more than 15,000 disturbing accounts of sexual assault and harassment. It is striking how many accounts occurred in educational institutions. So disturbing and numerous are some of the testimonies that newspapers referred to as a school as a “site of sexual violence”.

In Australia, a similar movement began in mid-February after 23-year-old Chanel Contos asked friends and then asked them if they had been raped or sexually assaulted when they went to private schools in Sydney. The survey was in demand and has now become a movement, and thousands of people have advocated for proper education in consensus in Australian schools.

These messages show the extent of the confusion surrounding consent, the basic principle of gender equality and healthy relationships. Why are young girls and boys so sure of knowing what a consensual relationship is, when certain actions are appropriate and just?

Obviously, something is wrong. We can blame the proliferation of social networks and pornographic sites for children under the age of 8, but in the end, these incidents reflect a general lack of discussion about sex. The solution is not the application of a permit proposed by a senior Australian police officer, but a comprehensive sex education in schools, from an early age.

Comprehensive sexuality education classes are essential to equip girls and boys with the skills they need to make responsible choices in their lives. Negotiating the terms of their sexual activity, what to do if there is sexual pressure from someone, teaching them to understand the importance of consensus and how to deal with peer pressure to accept violence. It promotes attitudes based on understanding and mutual respect, the foundation of a good relationship.

But comprehensive sex education is not taught everywhere. In the UK, it wasn’t until last year that it was compulsory to teach relationships in primary schools, which includes information about puberty and how to be safe online. In Australia, there is no national consensus education model and many schools stop teaching children about this subject at the age of 15 or 16 – when they need that information.

Australia and the United Kingdom should turn to developing countries to find innovative examples that have been successful in tackling violence and sexual harassment among school and foreign students.

Demographic explosions in parts of Africa and Asia, along with the rise of HIV / AIDS infections in the 1990s, forced many governments to find ways to combat early pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. In doing so, they had to design programs with gender imbalances and ingrained gender norms that are harmful to girls and women. Many of these programs focused on how young women could refuse sex or negotiate condom use.

In Kenya, for example, an NGO called No Means No Worldwide organizes licensing schools that teach girls how to say “No” and train them in self-defense. Meanwhile, young boys are also trained to have a different perspective on gender and adopt a more positive masculinity. Where classes have been given, the incidence of sexual harassment has been reduced by 50%.

A Brazilian-based NGO called Promundo runs a powerful program that engages young men and has been successful in changing violent rules related to masculinity through participatory meetings.

Several aspects of this program have been implemented in 26 countries around the world. Evaluations in eight countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Southeast Europe showed positive changes in attitudes toward gender equality and self-reported behaviors such as couple communication, violence, condom use, and caregiving.

When students are involved in planning and implementation, interventions to prevent school violence and sexual harassment can be even more effective. The Save the Children Violence Free Schools project in Afghanistan led to the creation of a child protection committee, a parent-teacher-student association, and a student council at each school.

Sex education should also not be an autonomous class. It can be included in existing curricula as well as extracurricular activities such as A Right to Play, a school-based program in Hyderabad, Pakistan. She uses sports and games to reduce violence in school for students and to change unbalanced gender norms. To date, the program has reached 8,000 children in 40 public schools and reduced victimization among peers by 33% among boys and 59% among girls.

Permission can be taught. Along with the importance of parental education at home, schools also play a key role in teaching students the difference between good and bad relationships, what critical consensus is, and the importance of gender equality. These issues need to be addressed early. UNESCO has developed a technical guide for governments and recommends starting with some concepts about healthy and unhealthy relationships from the age of five.

If conversations start early enough, they can be empowering for everyone, especially girls. They can change the rules that feed gender violence and help create a non-violent culture – like toxic masculinity. Sex education can effectively encourage students to reflect on their biases and roles in society.

Sex education prevents sexual exploitation and violence and is in everyone’s interest. If schools do not actively engage in dialogue about sex and relationships, young people will continue to go online as the only source of information. We can’t keep that up.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the attitude of the Al Jazeera editorial.