Perspective on violence against children from Tanzania

• In Event: Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Round-Table Session (English): The global debate on violence against children in schools: Views from the Global South

Proposal

A 2009 UNICEF survey revealed that 75% of children experience physical violence and 24% experience sexual abuse before the age of 18, and in most cases this abuse happens at home or at school. Schools lack sufficient protection and reporting mechanisms and many cases of abuse go unreported. As a result, children suffer in silence or are forced to drop out of school for fear of the abuse, or in the case of many girls, unwanted pregnancies. In 2017 over 180,000 children dropped out of schoolthough the data is unclear on how many of these dropouts are a direct result of violence.

Through HakiElimu’s work in building, 40,000-strong 'Friends of Education' network, through their direct work in schools, and through their programs to encourage citizen engagement and participation in delivering quality education, they have learned much about both the challenges and opportunities to prevent violence in Tanzania. In this presentation, John Kalage will draw on that vast experiences and reflect on what needs to happen next.

Author

• John Kalage, HakiElimu