Cape Town - School-related homophobic and transphobic violence has a significant impact on pupils’ education, employment prospects and their well-being, a new report has found.
Out In The Open, a global report on the education sector’s responses to violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity, was compiled by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).
It found that a significant proportion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) pupils – up to 85 percent in some countries – experience homophobic and transphobic violence in school.
Affected pupils were more likely to miss classes and drop out of school. It also showed that pupils who were wrongly perceived to be LGBT because they did not appear to conform to gender norms also experienced homophobic violence.
Irina Bokova, Unesco’s director-general, said last year, at the UN Sustainable Development Summit, that world leaders had made a promise to “deliver inclusive, equitable and quality education for all, and ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all by 2030”.
“Unesco recognises, however, that no country can achieve this goal while students are being discriminated against or experience violence, including bullying, because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity,” she added.
According to the report, few countries have education sector policies that address homophobic and transphobic violence or include sexual orientation and gender identity/expression in curricula or learning materials.
It recommended training and support be provided to teachers and other school staff to prevent and address violence in the school setting, including violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Other recommendations are that curricula and learning materials should be inclusive and that comprehensive national and school policies be established.
The Department of Basic Education has developed a guide called Safer Schools for All: challenging homophobic bullying in schools.
The department recommended that the topic of homophobic bullying and sexual harassment be addressed in Life Orientation, while schools were expected to draw up their own school-specific codes of conduct for pupils that address bullying, including homophobic bullying.