Learn Without Fear Facts

Research shows corporal punishment can cause children to feel suicidal.

Everyone can play their part in reducing school violence.

Everyone benefits from reducing violence in schools.


Children have the right to be safe at school.

Violence in schools happens everywhere, every day.

Violence in schools has devastating long-term consequences.

All violence in schools is preventable.

90 countries legally permit corporal punishment in schools.

No country is immune from violence in schools.

In Zambia one-third of 13-15 year-olds have been raped.

Children who suffer family violence are more likely to be bullies.

Fighting for her education

Erum, 22, understood from a young age that being a girl would not work in her favour. Living in rural Pakistan, many young girls, just like Erum, face social and cultural barriers that prevent girls from attending school. Their right to an education is overshadowed by roles women and girls are expected to play in society, like being a wife and mother.

“It’s very difficult for me because I have the motivation to do something for other people,” said Erum. “But in Pakistan, every girl faces the same situation, just because they are girls.”

The situation Erum describes is alarming: girls being assaulted en route to school; young girls being forced to marry and drop out of school; and girls being subjected to cruel names for wanting to continue their education.

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Valg i Kenya

Børn og deres familier kan ånde lettet op i Kenya, hvor der for en uge siden blev afholdt præsidentvalg. Mange havde frygtet det værste, men langt de fleste steder forløb valget i god ro og orden.

I weekenden blev resultatet endelig offentliggjort. Med 50,07 procent af stemmene vandt 51-årige Uhuru Kenyatta, som er søn af Kenyas landsfader og første præsident. Dermed sniger resultatet sig op over den magiske grænse på 50 procent, som forhindrer en ny valgrunde.

Også efter offentliggørelsen af resultatet har alt foregået fredeligt, fortæller vores Plan-kollega i Bondo i Kenya, Tom Okeyo:

”Der blev ikke rapporteret om nogen problemer i forhold til sikkerheden. Selvom resultatet blev forsinket, forblev borgerne rolige,” siger han.

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Educate and empower a girl and build a stronger community

Freida Pinto writes about her visit to Plan-supported communities in Sierra Leone.

In Sierra Leone, the treacherous web of problems women face is endless - teenage pregnancies, forced or self-imposed prostitution to make ends meet, death during pregnancy, denial of education and the shocking female genital mutilation that is unfortunately embedded in tradition.

There is no overnight solution to these problems, but here’s what I think - educate and empower a girl and she will help build a stronger community. Ask them what their dreams are and they will, in their extremely polished, polite and upper-crust English, tell you that they want to be accountants, doctors, journalists, politicians - but only after they say that they dream of a place that is rid of gender inequality.

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Violence keeping children out of school, especially girls

A major focus of Plan's Because I am a Girl initiative is overcoming the barriers keeping girls from receiving a quality education and completing school. One major barrier stands in the way: the prevalence of violence in and around schools.

Although every child has a right to go to school without fear of being hurt, teased, abused or bullied, this is sadly not a reality for millions of children here at home and around the world – especially girls.

In our latest report, A Girl's Right to Learn Without Fear, we found that between 500 and 1.5 million children around the world experience violence every year, including girls right here in Canada.

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A girl’s right to learn without fear

Worldwide, 66 million girls are missing out on an education. This report focuses on one of the major barriers girls face: gender-based violence - sexual, physical and psychological - in and around schools.

Between 500 million and 1.5 billion children experience violence every year, many within school walls.

Girls are especially vulnerable to rape, exploitation, coercion and discrimination perpetrated by students and teachers.

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Learn Without Fear: Corporal punishment

Corporal punishment in schools can take the form of hitting children with a hand or with a cane, burning or forcing them to sit for long periods in uncomfortable positions.

89 countries still permit teachers to physically punish children in their care. Even where corporal punishment is banned, laws protecting children are rarely enforced.

Boys are more often victims of school violence than girls. Children already discriminated against because of their disability, poverty, caste, class, ethnicity or sexuality are more likely to suffer corporal punishment than their peers.

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