At school, every child should feel respected, accepted and safe, so that they can learn and develop. Too many pupils are still victims of violence and harassment. And in the age of social media, these problems no longer stop at the school gates: they are present and amplified online. This International Day must spur a collective effort to step up the fight against violence and harassment in education
Audrey AzoulayUNESCO Director-General
Nearly one pupil in three worldwide says they have been physically attacked at least once during the year. Every month, harassment affects one pupil in three. Cyberbullying is also increasingly widespread, now affecting one child in ten. These phenomena have serious consequences not only for learning, but also for the mental health of pupils. Victims of bullying are twice as likely to suffer from severe loneliness, insomnia and suicidal thoughts.
Violence at school disproportionately affects certain groups due to reasons of gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status and other identity markers. Girls are particularly vulnerable: up to 25% of adolescent girls experience gender-based violence, and up to 40% of these incidents occur at school. Worldwide, 42% of young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have been 'ridiculed, mocked or threatened at school', mainly by other students, because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
UNESCO's roadmap for governments
UNESCO's new report Safe to learn and thrive: ending violence in and through education, published on Wednesday, stresses the essential role played by public policies, standards and multi-sectoral cooperation in curbing these phenomena - pointing out that only 32 states (16%) have a comprehensive legal framework to combat violence in schools.
To reinforce efforts in this area, UNESCO produced a global asssessment of the situation in recent years. The Organization also sent its Member States a set of guidelines, a series of thematic notes and a guide for teachers to combat gender-based violence in schools, and has produced recommendations on bullying in schools and a technical note on the key role of teachers.
UNESCO promotes a multi-stakeholder approach, involving pupils, teachers, families and the local community as a whole, in order to create safe and respectful learning environments.
Supporting projects in all regions of the world
The Organization supports many projects on the ground putting its recommendations into practice, particularly in Africa and Asia through the Connecting with Respect programme. It helps to prevent gender-based harassment by encouraging pupils to treat each other with respect and showing victims where to turn for help. In West Africa, UNESCO has also trained more than 20,000 educators to create a violence-free school environment.
In October 2024, UNESCO launched a new project with France and the European Commission devoted to the mental health of schoolchildren in France. The two-year project aims to strengthen the skills of educational teams in this area and to create student support networks that bring together teachers and educators, health personnel and social services.
It is also key that curricula are designed in order to ensure that educational content promotes the values of peace and respect for others. This is the goal of UNESCO's Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development, unanimously adopted by its 194 Member States a year ago. UNESCO is now helping its Member States to implement it, so that schools can be an effective bulwark against hate speech and discrimination, which are always at the root of harassment and the rejection of others.
The International Day against Violence and Harassment in Schools, including Cyberbullying, was established by UNESCO in 2019. It is held every first Thursday in November.
