Durban – A report co-authored by Professor Shanaaz Mathews, the director of the Children’s Institute (CI) at UCT, estimates that more than a billion children a year experience some form of violence and a significant proportion of that happens at schools in the Global South.
Mathews said violence against children was a complex problem that occurred in the home, community, online and in schools, and it took many forms, from corporal punishment and bullying to gender-based violence.
Whole community interventions were essential for sustainable prevention strategies, she said.
Using the example of corporal punishment, Mathews said this outlawed approach to discipline was still widespread in African schools in the Global South.
She said policies, practices and school values were prime targets for intervention purposes while teacher support was also vital.
“How do you support teachers to use non-violent forms of discipline within the school? In South Africa, for example, we’ve had corporal punishment legislation for more than 20 years, yet surveys show that 50% of children in schools will experience it.
“Policies on their own are not going to make a difference. It’s about how you change the culture and behaviour – and that’s the challenge that we all face.”
Mathews said implementing evidence-based sustainable interventions was critical.
“Children’s exposure to violence isn’t once off. It’s often through multiple exposures in multiple settings. And when we think about developing interventions, you’ve got to consider how you target those risks and enhance protective factors for children.”
She added that multicomponent strategies were essential to address the whole system, including the child, parents, school and the community.
“You have to think of it as an ecosystem.”
She said pupils, teachers, governing bodies, parents and communities should be targeted. Involving parents was key to sustainable solutions, she said.
“As children are exposed to programmes, you’ve got to take your parents with on the journey as far as possible, or else you’re not going to have the sustained effect of your programme. And I think that this is one of the most valuable lessons that we’ve learned from the review.”
Mathews said group-based education could also impact behaviour and empower pupils:
- Group-based education creates resilience among pupils and builds peer support.
- Safe spaces are critical, even in group settings. It is crucial that the group setting is a safe space where pupils can express themselves and ask questions without fear of being judged.
- It’s also essential to equip teachers to move away from current teaching practices of teaching which are often “patriarchal and power-ridden”.
However, she said, creating safe schools was part of a larger societal challenge and that it needed to extend to communities as part of the solution.
“Our communities have gang violence and just stepping out of school is not always safe. We’ve got to be thinking about how we create an intervention that interfaces with all the risks that the child could be exposed to in their life. Interventions must include multiple stakeholders, such as community and religious leaders. The more comprehensive the approach, the better the outcomes.”
Mathews said schools reached large numbers of children daily with the potential to deliver large-scale interventions to prevent violence against children.
“Violence against children is a serious public health problem with long-lasting intergenerational consequences.”
She said strategies must address the child at an individual level, and how they are embedded within the community as well as the school.