Back-To-School Is Not Always Cool When It Comes To GBVF

The annual back-to-school period is generally a time of great excitement and fresh new beginnings for South Africa’s young people. For many, however, it can also be a period of escape (at least for a little while each weekday) from gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) taking place in their homes. “Shockingly and sadly, the back-to-school period can also mark the start of a fearful and confusing time when our youth are exposed to abusers in and around the education system – whether these be educational professionals or classmates – resulting in many of our school-going youth becoming victims of GBVF themselves,” says Tshepo Sefotlhelo, Executive Head: Marketing & Communication of the GBVF Response Fund.

The GBVF Response Fund encourages South Africa to consider these facts:

• The findings of a recent Birth to Twenty Plus (BT20+) study – which followed more than 2,000 children in Soweto from birth to 22 years of age (also known as Mandela’s Children) – showed that 99% of these children had been exposed to some form of direct or indirect violence.
• The same study revealed that more than 65% of primary school-aged children, and 89% of adolescents were reported to have used violence.
• A study by the South African Medical Research Centre (MRC) for the Department of Health, which sampled 14,776 school-going youth, revealed that:
  • 17% of students carried weapons.
  • 41% of students were bullied.
  • 14% belonged to gangs.
  • 15% had been forced to have sex.
  • 15% had been threatened or injured on school property.
  • 19% were injured in fights.
  • 32% felt unsafe at school.
• Although physical punishment in schools was prohibited by the 1996 South African Schools Act, it had continued with between 22% and 74% of learners reporting being hit or caned at school (according to a Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention’s 2012 National School Violence study).
• And, more recently, between April 2020 and July 2021, more than 160 cases of sexual misconduct perpetrated by male teachers were reported to the South African Council for Educators.  “As a society, we have a responsibility to create a safer and (physically, emotionally and psychologically) healthier youth.  We need to set the example in building-up and educating future generations to treat (themselves and) others with kindness and respect, through healthy forms of communication. Parents, other care-givers and educators need to be role-models to this end, and even more importantly (alongside members of our justice system), be a safe haven for our youth to speak-up, so that they can be protected from harmful situations.  We need to work together to put an end to GBVF in our lifetimes,” concludes Sefotlhelo.