About us
Safe to Learn is a global initiative of 16 partners working to end violence in, around, and through schools.
Safe to Learn is inspired by the voices of young people around the world who know and experience that violence in schools stands as a huge obstacle to a better future.
In December 2018, young people from across the world gathered in South Africa to draft the #ENDviolence Youth Manifesto, demanding global leaders to take action for the children and youth of the world and to end violence in and through schools. The Safe to Learn coalition is putting these needs and calls from children and young people into action by working to end all violence in and around schools, and harnessing education as an entry point to reduce violence in other areas of children’s lives. Schools are essential spaces where students develop positive behaviors and relationship skills that can contribute to reducing violence in the home, community, among peers, and online.
Ending violence in schools is important to me because bullying happens around the world, in every country.
Muhd Saiful Ikhwan bin Musa, 21
Safe to Learn works to ensure all children in all their diversity, have access to safe and inclusive learning environments and that schools are platforms for learning and growth to enable safe and inclusive societies.
Focusing on two key pillars in its Strategy (2021-24), country-level action and global advocacy, Safe to Learn enables an ecosystem for systemic change. Together, these pillars complement and reinforce each other to strengthen foundations at the country and local level, while enabling education and violence prevention communities to speak with one voice.
Why education can and should play a transformative role in a child’s life.
Education can help mitigate the impact of violence, instability, and conflict at home, in school, and in communities. It holds the potential of future generations and can play a key role in challenging harmful social and gender norms and behaviours.
It can contribute to foster peaceful, inclusive societies and socio-economic development and promote climate change action. It can give children the skills and knowledge they need to shape their own future along with a sense of routine, stability, and protection.
Yet, this sense of security and protection is tainted for millions of children around the world. The transformational power of education is hindered when children live in fear and have their very futures compromised by threats and violent actions in one of the places, they should feel safest.
When children are not safe, they cannot learn. Evidence and data clearly show that violence in and around schools – in its various forms – has detrimental impacts on a child’s well-being, brain development, and educational attainment.
Half of students aged 13 to 15 worldwide (around 150 million) have experienced peer violence or bullying within the last year.
Half of all school children aged 6–17 (793 million) live in countries where corporal punishment is not prohibited in schools.
There were over 5,000 physical attacks on education and cases of military use of schools and universities reported between 2020 and 2021.
Not all children experience violence in the same way, and some children are at a particularly higher risk of violence, for example due to their age, disability status, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender. Girls are more likely to experience emotional and sexual violence, while boys are more likely to experience corporal punishment and physical violence. Children who do not conform to gender norms or stereotypes are particularly at risk of violence and bullying.
Approximately 60 million girls are sexually assaulted on their way to school.
129.2 million girls around the world are out of school.
LGBTQI+ students experience school violence and bullying at a rate between three and five times higher than their non-LGBTQI+ peers.
Girls and young women with disabilities face up to 10 times more gender-based violence than those without disabilities.