Their names are Fatmata, Ana Lucià, Samreen and Gulnur. They are just four of the dozens of children that have testified in studies from around the world about the mistreatment, the bullying, the psychological abuse and the sexual harassment that they are experiencing at school.
They are also just four of the 246 million children subject to some form of gender-based violence in and around school every year; children for whom school is not the safe haven that it should be. Some of these children, particularly girls, are verbally or physically harassed, while others become victims of corporal punishment or sexual abuse. Some experience this violence in the classroom, while for others, it unfolds on the playground or on the way to and from school.