School violence: where are the interventions?

Abstract

Globally, 1 billion children experience some form of physical, sexual, or emotional violence each year. 1 Hillis S Mercy J Amobi A Kress H Global prevalence of past-year violence against children: a systematic review and minimum estimates. Pediatrics. 2016; 137e20154079 Crossref PubMed Scopus (438) Google Scholar Most of these children live in low-income and middle-income countries, and much of this violence occurs in and around schools. 2 Devries K Knight L Petzold M et al. Who perpetrates violence against children? A systematic analysis of age-specific and sex-specific data. BMJ Paediatr Open. 2018; 2e000180 Crossref PubMed Scopus (65) Google Scholar For the 90% of children who are enrolled in primary school, violence might be even more common in school than at home. 2 Devries K Knight L Petzold M et al. Who perpetrates violence against children? A systematic analysis of age-specific and sex-specific data. BMJ Paediatr Open. 2018; 2e000180 Crossref PubMed Scopus (65) Google Scholar About 60% of children aged 6–10 years report recent physical and emotional violence from peers at school, 2 Devries K Knight L Petzold M et al. Who perpetrates violence against children? A systematic analysis of age-specific and sex-specific data. BMJ Paediatr Open. 2018; 2e000180 Crossref PubMed Scopus (65) Google Scholar and 46–95% of primary school students experience corporal punishment from teachers, including in countries with legal prohibitions. 3 Heekes S-L Kruger CB Lester SN Ward CL A systematic review of corporal punishment in schools: global prevalence and correlates. Trauma Violence Abuse. 2020; (published online May 21.)https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838020925787 Crossref PubMed Scopus (15) Google Scholar According to a UNESCO report, sexual violence and harassment are also common, experienced by more than 10% of students in 96 countries. But some groups are at an even higher risk. In Uganda, for example, 20% of primary school girls aged 11–14 years with disabilities, but 10% of primary school girls of the same age without disabilities, reported sexual violence, mainly from peers but also from teachers. 4 Devries KM Kyegombe N Zuurmond M et al. Violence against primary school children with disabilities in Uganda: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health. 2014; 141017 Crossref PubMed Scopus (37) Google Scholar