When the organisation, Open Fees Educational Aid Foundation (OpenFees) started Project Senior Secondary School Completion two years ago, the major goal was to create access to basic education for indigent senior secondary students. We wanted to make sure funds does not stop 100 indigent youths from completing their their senior secondary school education and acquiring their certification.
The goal was clear- to tackle the barrier of access to education by direct fees payment and completion through follow up and mentorship classes. However, funding was not the only barrier, one of the other barriers we encountered was Gender Based Violence (GBV) in schools. According to a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) research, worldwide, an estimated 246 million children experience school related violence every year. This report noted that, unequal gender norms and power relations are a key driver of this violence manifesting itself as bullying and physical abuse, corporal punishment, sexual and verbal harassment, nonconsensual touching and other form of sexual assault.
In Nigeria, we hear several reports of violence in schools through the media and other platforms ever other day, students are being pressured, exploited and harassed by their peers, school staff and school authorities. In the cause of implementing Project 3S it was discovered that as a result of poor attention to GBV, children and young people are at risk and children with little or no economic support are more vulnerable, they become a target for perpetrators because they are often at their mercy and have no one to speak for them. For instance, students who are late or do not pay their fees are often verbally abused or pressured. They are harassed for the lack of payment and often embarrassed in front of their peers.
The presence of GBV related problem had a major impact on the implementation of the project in the schools we worked. We observed that schools are not isolated from GBV related issues especially the gender norms and traditions that exists. In fact, if GBV is not properly addressed in schools, it can legitimise and reinforce harmful gender norms.
The students, especially the female students had experienced one form of GBV or another. Their experience is often across all levels and multiple setting within and outside the school. Students have experienced bulling, corporal punishments, violence of students against students, unequal power balance between teachers and students, all forms of harassment and even rape. We saw that people have the tendency to abuse power from the school students, prefects to the teachers, management and everyone in between. Even the staff are not free from violence especially the female teachers.
Getting the students’ perspective was not an easy part of our work as we had to invest time and effort through our mentorship approach to engage and educate these students for a better outcome. Some of these students didn’t understand their experience, they just knew it had a major impact on their school performance and attendance as they often do not feel safe to stay in some area within the school.
Through our work, we discovered that the impact of GBV has negative consequences for young people and should be tackled swiftly to increase school retention and make the school a safe space for these young vulnerable students. Realising that it’s not enough to create access to education for them by just paying their fees, we intensified out effort with the weekly mentorship classes and engaged these students through emotional intelligence and debate sessions. The debate sessions involved group essay writings where students are tasked to research on GBV topics, deliberate on it and present their findings with superior argument to their peers. This gave them a clearer understanding of the issues and empowered them. At baseline, students were often shy and afraid to express themselves and couldn’t articulate their issues but as the mentorship class progressed, students became vibrant and over 60% of the students engaged became more conscious and started challenging negative social norms.
As a result of these sessions, students became more aware of GBV issues and were providing practical solutions to prevent and respond to GBV in their school. It became obvious to them that education is the tool we can use to end GBV in schools.
In a particular instance, one of the beneficiaries of the project was a victim of rape from a school staff, through the education on GBV and the social support she received, she was able to stand up to her abuser and inspire other young girls who have gone through same. Education increases knowledge, opportunity and social economic status, the level of educational opportunity given to the youth will drastically decrease violence in schools.
With the different strategies we use at OpenFees to create access to education for indigent vulnerable children and youth, we have discovered that everyone needs to be on board for us to address the embarrassing number of out of school children in Nigeria, poor completion rate and the issue of GBV in schools.
To tackle GBV in education, we need to use education to create strategic interventions that can sensitise every actor involved. Apart from our mentorship approach and interpersonal communication with students, areas we are exploring at OpenFees are constructive collaboration and the strengthening of linkages among partners working on child right and GBV issues. We have also started engaging and empowering the school management, teachers and parent to understand the power dynamics and unjust social/gender norms through forums and other communication tools like short documentaries, posters, data, etc.
On the government side, approaches like improved GBV policy framework; trainings on GBV; building and investing in thought leaders and role models within the school environment; showing true value and support for the teachers; proper accountability and other measures to respond to violence; creating safe spaces (places where students can learn, report and get counselling for GBV related issues they face) and other practical solutions can solve the problem of GBV.
This article was written by Elizabeth Okunlola. Elizabeth is a Communication for Development Professional, a GBV enthusiast and the founder of OpenFees.
