violence against children WORLD REPORT ON - CRIN

“There is new awareness about the prevalence of violence against children in Africa, and its effects,both on those who experience it, and on the society at large. We need to translate this awaremessinto prevention, based on successful strategies from this and other regions.To delay this response is to betray the trust invested in us to protect the vulnerable.”Dr Luis G. Sambo, Regional Director for Africa, WHO48. Ensure that school heads and teachersuse non-violent teaching and learningstrategies and disciplinary measures.Governments should ensure that teachingand learning strategies and disciplinarymeasures are used that are not based onfear, threat, humiliation or physical force.All school staff should be trained andsupported in the use of non-violent andrespectful classroom management strategies,as well as specific skills to prevent patternsof bullying and other gender-basedviolence and to respond to it effectively.9. Listen to students and encourage participation.Governments and their partnersshould actively promote and supportthe involvement of students in thedesign, development, implementation, andmonitoring of policies and programmes,including through access to confidentialcomplaints or reporting mechanisms. Participatory,gender-sensitive, and inclusiveschool management structures should bepromoted and students should be equippedwith the necessary skills and given opportunitiesto be involved, with special attentiongiven to the participation of vulnerablechildren.Strengthen knowledge and skills for nonviolence10. Revise the curriculum to model nonviolenceand gender equity. Governmentsshould ensure that the curriculum,textbooks and teaching methods promotechild rights, support diversity and indigenousknowledge, and emphasise tolerance,respect, equity, non-discrimination, andnon-violent conflict resolution.11. Implement life skills education to enablestudents to build personal skills. Governmentsshould ensure that rights-based lifeskills programmes for non-violence shouldbe promoted in the curriculum throughsubjects such as peace education, citizenshipeducation, anti-bullying, humanrights education, and conflict resolutionand mediation; with emphasis placed onchild rights and positive values such asdiversity and tolerance, and on skills suchas problem-solving, social and effectivecommunication, in order to enable girlsand boys to overcome entrenched genderbiases and to prevent and deal with violenceand harassment, including sexualharassment.12. Promote school–community partnerships,and present schools as a resourceto the community. Governments shouldacknowledge the school as a communityresource and facilitate closer school–communitylinkages to address violence in andaround schools, involving students, staff,parents and other partners such as police,health services, social services, faith-basedgroups, community recreation groups, andcultural groups.Build information systems13. Strengthen data collection systems onall forms of violence against girls andboys. Data collected should ensure thatthe views of students and potential stu-155Violence against children in schools and educational settings