Graines de Paix’s ‘Better School Girls’ programmes aim to improve girls’ education by helping them feel safe and valued in schools. (Credit: Graines de Paix)

In countries around the world, children do not feel safe in school. According to UNICEF, half of students globally aged 13 to 15 years old have experienced violence from their peers in and around the classroom, while more than a third have experienced bullying or physical fights. Many also live in fear of violence from their teachers, with around 720 million school-aged children living in countries where they are not fully protected by law from corporal punishment at school.

When children feel unsafe in school, it stands in the way not only of their education but their emotional development, their social skills and a cohesive society as a whole, says Delia Mamon, president of Graines de Paix.

The ethos of the Geneva-based NGO, which was awarded the 2022 UNESCO Hamdan Prize for teacher development last month, is simple: to foster peace and prevent violence through education.

“Our work deals with building peace in society, starting in the microcosm of the classroom,” Mamon tells Geneva Solutions. “If children observe that violence is the norm at the age of four, then our world can only be violent because they have no other model.”

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📌 11 November, 8:30pm | International Geneva Talks. Geneva Solutions has partnered with local television station Léman Bleu and three other media to create a series of debates in English on major international issues: global health, climate and environment, peace and security, human rights.

Geneva Solutions will launch the first in the series this Friday evening at 8:30pm with a subject that has caused a lot of ink to flow: the sanctions imposed by Switzerland against Russia. What are the repercussions for Geneva's reputation as a neutral meeting place for talks? And how has the debate around Switzerland’s neutrality impacted International Geneva?

Joining Geneva Solutions editor Kasmira Jefford in the studio to discuss: Jonas Pasquier, Head of Global Affairs at the Swiss Mission to the UN in Geneva, Thomas Biersteker, Honorary Professor of International Relations at the Graduate Institute, and Nicolas Walder, National Councillor and member of the Green party. Watch it on TV or online at Léman Bleu