Safe Schools: The Hidden Crisis

This report provides a five-step Framework for Action and a Resource Annex to help actors identify the entry points and focus areas to act on. This Framework comprises:

• The principles that need to underpin action on safe schools (identifying and strengthening policies and programs, supporting governments to improve their capacity, and promoting dialogue among families, children and adolescents, authorities, the private sector and communities).
• The actors (accompanied by their comparative advantages) that have a part to play in tackling safe schools: national governments, donor governments, international organisations, global funds, NGOs, civil society organisations, philanthropy, business and academia.
• The populations each actor could focus on, depending on their interests, objectives and comparative advantages. These include: early years, primary-age children, adolescents, teachers, or combinations thereof.
• The marginalized groups and barriers to inclusive education that each actor could focus on, such as refugees, disability, gender discrimination, child exploitation, LGBTI discrimination, and mental health and well-being.
• The range of actions they could take, at a global, national or local level, to help prioritize, fund and deliver safe education.

The breadth of these recommendations and Framework for Action reflect the fact that – as has been shown by study after study – equitable, quality education is an essential component of any attempt to build a happier, healthier, more peaceful and more prosperous world. Similarly, the picture is increasingly clear that ensuring the safety of pupils and teachers in and around schools is an essential part of any efforts to achieve that equitable, quality education.