A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Plan International, has revealed that no fewer than 13 million Nigerian students are victims of Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
The NGO said that the various forms of violence in schools are being carried out either by teachers or fellow students.
The Advocacy and Youth Programme officer of the organisation, Mr Jonathan Abakpa, who made this known yesterday (Tuesday, December 10), in Abuja, the FCT, at a Legislative and Policy Roundtable Dialogue on GBV in education, said one out of every three girls experiences violence in society, calling for a legislative redress.
“There is a current UNICEF report which shows that seven million girls are facing one form of violence from their teachers or classmates.
“Over six million men or boys are equally facing the same.
“This is just what statistics are showing, because if you look at the out-of-school and then the non-conventional – the informal educational sector, there are no clear statistics.
” In fact, there are no statistics anywhere that shows the level of violence that is occurring in that sector,” he said
According to him, if this is what research has shown, then it is an unpleasant reality for Nigeria.
He, consequently, harped on the need for conversations geared towards a timely passage of the sexual harassment bill by the legislature.
“When you look at the Tsangaya educational system, you find that there are so many cases of abuses and violations.
“Yet, these are not formal points of reports, and if this continues to grow, the contentious statistics of 18.3 million or 20 million out-of-school children will continue to grow.
“This is because it is just one factor that continues to put children away from school,” he said
To that end, he called for strengthening of policies, an increase in the education budget for 2025 and enforcement of safe schools for girls.
