The Ministry of Education, Arts, and Culture is working hard to ensure that schools have qualified teachers and counselors to provide psychological support to learners.

Unpacking the role of the education sector in the fight against GBV, Deputy Executive Director Edda Bohn says the ministry has programs in place that provide meals to primary school pupils as well as safety for children in schools.

"To provide care support, emotional stability, and to ensure that an environment is created where a child can flourish, let alone develop to its full potential and be safe, so as much as we talk about it with parents, we also need to embrace that we need to embark on an academic program that focuses on conceptual abilities and brain development."

Bohn says the ministry also offers training programs in child care protection and equips teachers with the knowledge and skills to deal with gender-based violence in schools.

"We have a life skills curriculum, and we have the capacity of life skills teachers to be capacitated to have early detection in cases where learners are victims and to act accordingly, either by counseling themselves or by finding counselors at local or regional schools and the necessary referral systems to assist the children."

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is an international campaign observed every year to raise visibility around the call for the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence.

This year's campaign is held under the theme "UNITE! Activism to end violence against women and girls".