Gender-based Violence and its Impact to Secondary School Students ' Education Participation, Retention and Performance

Abstract

Gender-based violence (GBV) in schools is a global concern perpetuated by gendernorms, relations and stereotypes; and influenced by the gender socialisationprocesses. GBV is not only a human right and public health issue, but also aneducational one as it limits the ability of students to realise their education privilegeswith regards to participation, retention and performance. GBV affects male andfemale students alike, but with a different outcome. Girls are more affected due todecision-making power, context and the persistent societal gender norms. Whilevarious GBV-related studies have focused at household settings through quantitativeor qualitative approaches, this study investigated diverse socio-cultural and genderrelated issues in rural and urban school settings in Bagamoyo and Chalinze districts,Coastal region, through a mixed approach. The study engaged 220 respondents,including 155 students and 65 adults. The findings show that GBV among studentsemanate from home, school and community environments, and they include: earlyand forced marriages, forced termination of school, forced sexual affairs, threats, badcultural practices, female genital mutilation, corporal punishment, heavypunishment, and rape. GBV-related outcomes that affect female students weremanifested in terms of poor performance at school, early engagement in sexualrelationships, early pregnancies, dropping-out, truancy, disability or complicationsduring child-birth, STIs and HIV, and eloping from home. For males, the outcomesincluded early engagement in sexual affairs, truancy, poor school performance, andschool drop-outs. The study concludes that GBV and its associated implications inschools demand a multi-dimensional approach for effective interventions.