Cameroon Education Response to School-Based Gender-Based Violence

The Cameroonian government, by subscribing to the global effort to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal, has included the gender approach and the education of girls, particularly in disadvantaged areas, as one of its development priorities. Thus, Cameroon has increased efforts to offer quality education to all children, particularly girls given the harmful impact of violence in general andgender-based violence on their educational trajectories. As part of this project, UNESCO, in collaboration with the Institute of Training and Demographic Research, launched a diagnostic study of the response provided by the education sector to SRGBV in three target countries: Cameroon, Senegal and Togo. The objective of this study is to identify needs and propose areas for improvement in four components of the educational response to SRGBV: school programs, teacher training, educational policies and strategies, and regulations. Training and regulation are the points where the response to SRGBV in Cameroon is most visible. Indeed, a good number of regulatory texts support the prevention and management of violence in schools and continuing training for teachers has been organized. However, in the political and strategic framework, aspects relating to SRGBV remain poorly represented. This last component and integration into curricula are the main areas where improvements need to be made in the country.