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Persistent high levels of violence in schools hinders learning

When children are not safe, they cannot learn.  The evidence is clear, violence has significant negative impacts on children’s brain development and physical and mental health . Violence also lowers educational attainment and increases risk of school dropouts. When children are deprived of a safe learning env...

Global leaders commit to making schools Safe to Learn

In 2019, during the High-Level Political Forum, senior leaders from governments, the UN, and international organizations announced significant new commitments to address the global crisis of school violence. More than 150 people attended the event. During theevent the UK Government announced more than $5 million i...

Keeping children safe in school: Let’s make this a priority for the education sector

Schools should be places of safety, where girls and boys can thrive and learn. Yet children are too often exposed to staggeringly high levels of violence, often perpetuated by deeply ingrained social and gender norms and institutionally or nationally endorsed forms of corporal punishment. This has grave consequenc...

16 January 2024

Ending Violence in Schools: An Investment Case

Ending violence in and around school (VIAS) is essential to reap the benefits from education and ensure children’s well-being. Receiving an education of good quality is the right of every child, as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Education plays a unique role in promoting respect for human ...

16 January 2024

Safe to Learn Strategy

COVID 19 has heightened a pre-existing child’s right crisis. Not only has the global pandemic made much more acute the learning crisis for millions of children by forcing to close schools in almost all countries, moving learning online and accelerating its digitization, but it has also made millions of girls and b...

16 January 2024

#ENDviolence Youth Manifesto

The Youth Manifesto was written on December 1st, 2018 by more than 100 young people from around the world. These young people gathered at the Junior Chamber International (JCI) African Youth Development Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, at a session facilitated by UNICEF, Global Citizen, JCI and the Global Par...

16 January 2024

Partners

Safe to Learn is backed by a powerful coalition of 16 partners working together to provide an opportunity for change so that all children, in all their diversity can learn safely, no matter how or where they may be learning.   Safe to Learn’s partners represent major leaders in education, child protectio...

16 January 2024

News and Events

January 22-24, 2024: Addressing violence in and through education at Wilton Park . Read the Wilton Park meeting readout and Annex of Commitments .  February 13-15, 2024: African Union Summit – Year of Education   March 10-14, 2024: The Power of Protest at Comparative & International Educati...

16 January 2024

Stories

15 January 2024

Safe to Learn Call to Action

Every child deserves to be safe to learn, and to develop the skills and confidence needed to shape their own future and lead healthy prosperous lives. Education can transform children’s lives and whole societies. Yet for too many children and young people, school is a place of violence and fear. An estimated 246 m...

15 January 2024

An Everyday Lesson

School may be the most influential institution in children’s lives, ranking just below family and home as the foundation on which they build their futures. In the best cases, schools are safe and encouraging spaces where children gain the knowledge and skills they need to navigate adult life. Schools can buffer ch...

10 January 2024

Safe to Learn - An essay collection

Violence against children occurs on an unimaginable scale. It happens in every country and every community, and it undermines children’s health, education and development.  Schools should be a safe place for children to learn and play, but that is far from the reality for many children. It is estimated that 2...