Liberal Studies Book B5

LIBERAL STUDIES
Compiled by
CONTENTS
Page
UNIT ONE --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Definition of Concepts: Human Rights, Gender and Inclusion,
and Disaster Risk Reduction in the School Context------------------ 1
UNIT TWO --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Human Rights Issues in the School Setting ---------------------------- 14
UNIT THREE -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Causes and consequences of human rights abuses in school
setting ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24
UNIT FOUR -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Issues of Gender and Inclusion in the School Setting ------------- 29
UNIT FIVE ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 49
Common Gender-Based Violence in Schools and their Causes 49
UNIT SIX -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gender Exclusion/Discrimination ------------------------------------------ 57
UNIT SEVEN -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 65
Methodologies for addressing gender inclusion in schools ---- 65
UNIT EIGHT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Common Hazards that Pose Disaster Risks in Schools ----------- 81
UNIT NINE --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disaster Risk Assessment in the School --------------------------------- 98
UNIT TEN --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 128
Reducing Disaster Risk In Schools --------------------------------------- 128
UNIT ELEVEN ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Methodologies for Promoting Disaster Preparedness in
Schools-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 136
REFERENCES ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 144
Liberal Studies Page ii

UNIT ONE
Definition of Concepts: Human Rights, Gender and Inclusion,
and Disaster Risk Reduction in the School Context
Introduction
This lesson introduces student-teachers to the concepts of
human rights, gender and inclusion, and disaster risk
reduction in the school setting. This lesson will also enable
student teachers to appreciate the linkages among the
concepts of human rights, gender and disaster. Student
teachers will then have the opportunity to reflect and evaluate
their own perceptions and biases in relation to these three
concepts which are likely to impact on their effectiveness as
teachers. The lesson will also help student teachers imply and
apply their knowledge of human rights, gender and inclusion,
and disaster risk reduction in teaching and learning.
Human Rights:
The concept of human rights means that every person is
entitled to the standards or conditions necessary for living a
decent life. In simple terms, human rights are those basic
entitlements that protect our ability to satisfy the basic needs
with dignity and respect. The claims we have by virtue of the
fact that we are human beings, are universally recognized as
fundamental to the dignity of the individual. For example,
right to life. The universality of it is that all over the world, it is
Liberal Studies Page 1

wrong to take someone‘s life, not even one‘s own life. Human
rights may also be defined as universal moral rights:
something which all men everywhere, at all times, ought to
have including children, and something of children, and
something of which no one may be deprived without grave
affront to justice. Something which is owned by every human
being simply because he/she is human.
They are neither privileges nor contingents upon a prior
performance of any duties, so that if children fail to perform
they would be taken away from them. That is why they have to
be guarded by the law.
Human rights are rights that every human being has by virtue
of his or her human dignities are rights inherent to all human
beings. They define relationships between individuals and
power structures, especially the State. Human rights delimit
State power and, at the same time, require States to take
positive measures ensuring an environment that enables all
people to enjoy their human rights. OR are Fundamental rights
that belong to every person, simply by being a human being.
Basic human rights principles

Human rights are universal ―Human rights are foreign to no
culture and native to all nations; they are universal.‖ Kofi A.
Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations,
Address at the University of Tehran on Human Rights Day, 10
December 1997.

Human rights are universal because they are based on every
human being‘s dignity, irrespective of race, colour, sex, ethnic
or social origin, religion, language, nationality, age, sexual
orientation, disability or any other distinguishing
characteristic. Since they are accepted by all States and
peoples, they apply equally and indiscriminately to every
person and are the same for everyone everywhere.
―All human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent
and interrelated. The international community must treat
human rights globally in a fair and equal manner, on the same
footing, and with the same emphasis. While the significance of
national and regional particularities and various historical,
cultural and religious backgrounds must be borne in mind, it is
the duty of States, regardless of their political, economic and
cultural systems, to promote and protect all human rights and
fundamental freedoms.‖ World Conference on Human Rights,
Vienna,1993, Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action.
Why Are Human Rights Important?

Human rights reflect the minimum standards necessary for
people to live with dignity and equality. Human rights give
people the freedom to choose how they live, how they express
themselves, and what kind of government they want to
support, among many other things. Human rights also
guarantee people the means necessary to satisfy their basic
needs, such as food, housing, and education, so they can take

full advantage of all opportunities. Finally, by guaranteeing
life, liberty, and security, human rights protect people against
abuse by individuals and groups who are more powerful.
According to the United Nations, human rights:
Ensure that a human being will be able to fully develop and
use human qualities such as intelligence, talent, and
conscience and satisfy his or her spiritual and other needs.
Human rights are not just theoretical; they are recognized
standards to which governments are to be held accountable.
There are five basic tenets underlying human rights as they
apply to all people. Human rights are:
1. Universal in that they belong to all people equally
regardless of status. All people are born free and equal in
dignity and rights.
2. Inalienable in that they may not be taken away or
transferred. People still have human rights even when
their governments violate those rights.
3. Interconnected because the fulfillment or violation of
one right affects the fulfillment of all other rights.
4. Indivisible as no right can be treated in isolation. No one
right is more important than another.
5. Non-discriminatory in that human rights should be
respected without distinction, exclusion, restriction, or
preference based on race, colour, age, national or ethnic
origin, language, religion, sex, or any other status, which

has the purpose or effect of impairing the enjoyment of
human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Concepts of Gender and Inclusion

Gender is not the biological differences between men and
women, boys and girls, rather a set if the social attributes
associated with being male and female learned through
socialization. Gender therefore is a social construct that
defines what it means to be a man or woman, boy or girl in a
given society – it carries specific roles, status and expectations
within households, communities and culture. Individuals may
also self-identify as neither male or female, or both male and
female (CARE International 2009). Gender also Refers to the
social attributes and opportunities associated with being male
and female and the relationships between women and men and
girls and boys, as well as the relations between women and
those between men. These attributes, opportunities and
relationships are socially constructed and are learned through
socialization processes. They are context/ time-specific and
changeable. Gender determines what is expected, allowed and
valued in a women or a man in a given context. In most
societies there are differences and inequalities between women
and men in responsibilities assigned, activities undertaken,
access to and control over resources, as well as decision-
making opportunities. Gender is part of the broader socio-
cultural context. Other important criteria for socio-cultural

analysis include class, race, poverty level, ethnic group and
age.
Gender roles are shaped by the different social and cultural

contexts they exist in. Factors like country/region, ethnic
group, age, economic class and religion all affect which roles
and responsibilities that men and women, boys and girls are
expected to have. (FAO 2012)
Gender relations are the ways in which a society defines

rights, responsibilities and the identities of men and women in
relation to one another. Gender relations are based on power
and negotiations, and gender roles are closely linked,
influencing the definition and development of one another.
(FAO 2012)
Gender-based Violence (GBV): is an umbrella term for any

harmful act that is perpetrated against a person‘s will and that
is based on socially ascribed (gender) differences between
women and men. The nature and extent of specific types of
GBV vary across cultures, countries and regions. Examples
include sexual violence; domestic violence; harassment in
public and work space; rape; trafficking; honour crimes, etc.
Gender-based violence (GBV) is a worldwide phenomenon – one
that transcends the bounds of geography, race, culture, class
and religion and affects virtually every community in every

corner of the globe. GBV takes many forms, including sexual
violence, domestic violence; sex trafficking, child marriage and
‗honour‘ crimes. GBV disproportionately harms women and
girls because of their subordinate status. Both tacit and
explicit acceptance of violence against women within laws,
institutions, families and communities reflects and
perpetuates gender inequality. Inequalities of power between
women and men ―contribute to an environment that accepts,
excuses, and even expects violence against women.‖
Gender equity is the process of being fair to women and men.

To ensure fairness, strategies and measures must often be
available to compensate for women‘s historical and social
disadvantages that prevent women and men from otherwise
operating on a level playing field. Equity leads to equality.
(CARE International 2009). Gender equity denotes the
equivalence in life outcomes for women and men, recognising
their different needs and interests, and requiring a
redistribution of power and resources. It constitutes a process
towards achieving gender equality.
Gender equality - or equality between women and men -
refers to the equal enjoyment by women, girls, boys and men
of rights, opportunities, resources and rewards. A critical
aspect of promoting gender equality is the empowerment of
women, with a focus on identifying and redressing power
imbalances. Equality does not mean that women and men are

the same but that their enjoyment of rights, opportunities and
life changes are not governed or limited by whether they were
born female or male. (CARE International 2009) Gender
equality means that women and men, and girls and boys, enjoy
the same rights, resources, opportunities and protections. it
also means that girls and women have ―… agency to use those
rights, capabilities, resources and opportunities to make
strategic choices and decisions‖ about the course of their lives
―without the fear of coercion and violence. Gender equality is
the goal or final objective where women and men have equal
conditions for realising their rights and for contributing to,
and benefiting from economic, social, cultural and political
development.
Gender identity: refers to a person‘s innate, deeply felt
internal and individual experience of gender, which may or
may not correspond to the person‘s physiology or designated
sex at birth. It includes both the personal sense of the body,
which may involve, if freely chosen, modification of bodily
appearance or function by medical, surgical, or other means,
and other expressions of gender, including dress, speech, and
mannerisms.
Women’s Empowerment involves awareness-raising, building

of self-confidence, expansion of choices, increased access to
and control over resources and actions to transform the
structures and institutions which reinforce and perpetuate

gender discrimination and inequality. Empowerment comes
from within; women empower themselves. Increase women‘s
power through power to; power with and power from within
which focus on utilizing individuals and collective strengths to
work towards common goals without coercion or domination.
(CARE International 2009). According to Beijing Declaration:
―Women‘s empowerment and their full participation on the
basis of equality in all spheres of society, including
participation in the decision- making process and access to
power, are fundamental for the achievement of equality,
development and peace‖. Empowerment is a ‗bottom-up‘
process of transforming gender power relations, through
individuals or groups developing awareness of women‘s
subordination and building their capacity to challenge it.
Gender mainstreaming is defined by the United Nations as
the process of assessing the implications for women and men
of any planned action in all areas and at all levels. That means
making both the concerns and experiences of women and men
an integral dimension of all agriculture and rural development
efforts. (FAO 2012). Gender mainstreaming is a gender
perspective is the process of assessing the implications for
women and men of any planned action, including legislation,
policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a
strategy for making women's as well as men's concerns and
experiences an integral dimension of the design,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and

programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so
that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not
perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.
Gender Transformative: Social norms that limit women‘s and

men‘s opportunities need to be understood and then changed.
Gender-transformative approaches seek to transform gender
roles and promote more gender-equitable relationships
between men and women in a lasting manner. While gender
responsive or gender sensitive approaches recognise the
specific needs and realities of men and women based on the
social construction of gender roles. It also refers to program
approaches or activities that seek to build equitable social
norms and structures in addition to individual gender-
equitable behaviour by addressing both the fundamental
causes and sources of gender inequality For agricultural
research for development this approach is crucial as it is
hoped that better and more lasting outcomes will result from
interventions that combine efforts to enhance access to
resources, technologies and markets that understand and
challenge the social context that enable inequalities to persist.
(CARE International 2011)
Gender stereotyping: Is a situation that one decides unfairly
that a type of person has a particular qualities or abilities
because they belong to a particular race, social class or sex.
Gender Stereotype is generalized view or preconception about

attributes or characteristics that are or ought to be possessed
by, or the roles that are or should be performed by women and
men. A gender stereotype is harmful when it limits women‘s
and men‘s capacity to develop their personal abilities, pursue
their professional careers and make choices about their lives
and life plans. Harmful stereotypes can be both
hostile/negative (e.g., women are irrational) or seemingly
benign (e.g., women are nurturing). It is for example based on
the stereotype that women are more nurturing that child
rearing responsibilities often fall exclusively on them.
Inclusion: The act of including someone in a larger group or
set. Social inclusion is the process by which efforts are made
to ensure equal opportunities - that everyone, regardless of
their background, can achieve their full potential in life. Such
efforts include policies and actions that promote equal access
to (public) services
Affirmative action: The practice of choosing people for a job
or schooling who are usually treated unfairly because of their
race or sex.
Sexual orientation: A person's sexual identity in relation to
the gender or genders to which they are attracted.
Sexuality: Are things people do, think and feel that are related
to their sexual desires.
Sex refers to the biological and physiological characteristics of
men and women (Mikkola 2012).

Concepts of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
Disaster risk reduction education is about building students‘
understanding of the causes, nature and effects of hazards
while also fostering a range of competencies and skills to
enable them to contribute proactively to the prevention and
mitigation of disaster.
Disaster: Is a sadden event such as flood, storm, or accident
which causes great damage or suffering.
Risk: the possibility that something bad, unpleasant, or
dangerous may happen.
Hazards: something that may be dangerous, cause accidents or
problem.
Resilience: Ability to become strong, happy or successful again
after a difficult situation. It is a capacity to recover quickly
from difficulties as well as the ability to withstand adversity
and bounce back from difficult life events. Being resilient does
not mean that people don‘t experience any suffering.
Disaster preparedness: Is a way in which one is ready to do
something or deal with a situation as well as the measure
taken to reduce the effects of diseaster.
Disaster mitigation: Is the reduction in how unpleasant,
harmful or serious situation.
Vulnerability: Is the situation in which someone can easily be
harm or hurt.
Capacity: Is the ability to do something to change a situation

Water: Is a clear liquid without colour, smile or taste such as
rain, river etc.
Sanitation: the protection of public health by removing and
treating waste or dirty water.
Hygiene: Is the practice of keeping yourself and the things
around you clean in order to prevent diseases.
Hygiene promotion: the activity of persuading people to
support practice of keeping their environment clean and safe.
Disease transmission: is the mode or process of sending or
spreading thing from one person or place to another

UNIT TWO
Human Rights Issues in the School Setting
Introduction
This unit introduces you to certain key human rights
principles and concepts that guide the welfare, security and
the rights of students in the school setting from both global
and national contexts. Additionally, the unit affords facilitator
the opportunity to appreciate the significance of how human
rights principles and practices interact with other factors to
enhance or constrain safety, security, fear, anxiety and
depression in the school setting. The unit also places emphasis
on how student can develop better human rights knowledge
for building a culture of safety and inclusive school
environment for effective learning outcome and the
implication of this for teaching.
Common human right practices in our schools
They are human right that every child of school going age is
entailed to and practice within any learning environment
especially our school setting. The school system is expected to
create and maintain conditions that foster success for all
students and promote fair and equitable treatment for all.
These conditions include:
 Equitable access to and equitable participation in quality
education for all students;

 School cultures that value diversity and respond to the
diverse social and cultural needs of the communities the
school systems serve;
 School cultures that promote understanding of others
and respect for all;
 Learning and working environments those are safe and
welcoming, and free from discrimination, harassment,
and violence;
 Decision-making processes that give a voice to all
members of the school community; and
 Policies and practices in place that promote fair and
equitable treatment.
 Freedom of expression: students are given the
opportunity to talk freely by contributing in class by
asking and answering questions without difficulties
because it is their right.
 Right to education: no child is prevented from school or
any form of education whether been rich, poor, and able
or disable or any other reason that might be stated.
 Freedom of association: students are given chances or
opportunity to mingle with each other without
discrimination based on ethnicity or any other reason.
 Right of individual differences are respected, facilitators
take into consideration all students‘ abilities before given
a task. This shows respects, love and attention to the
learners.

 Right to vote: With the support and guidance of school
staff, students co-ordinate and participate in all activities
related to election processes. Following the election at
the school level, students also organize follow-up
activities, such as the formation of Parliamentary
Committees or Students Representative Council (SRC). In
some cases, such bodies have become involved in
decision-making in relation to student affairs.
Conditions for successful human rights education, including

the introduction of new curricula, courses and materials; new
methods and approaches to teaching human rights; new
assessment strategies and tools; a democratic atmosphere in
schools; and corresponding pre-service and in-service teacher
training.
Common human right abuses in the school

Further guides student teachers to discuss the common human
rights abuses they experience in school e.g., Bullying, Physical
abuse, Psychological abuse, Sexual and Gender-based abuse.
The following are the examples
1. Strike actions by teachers, which lead to reduction of

school time resulting in the inability to complete syllabus
by some teachers.
2. Sexual abuse sexual harassments by some teachers.

3. Corporal punishments, mostly excessive caning.
4. Molestation/harassments by seniors (form threes to
form one).
5. Internal suspension preventing students concerned from
attending classes.
6. Using students for labour for financial gain for the
school.
Emotional Abuse
Davis (1996), points out that, ―Teachers‖ attitudes in the class
drive children out of school Davis asserted that one source of
stress in pupils/students is bullying from one person or more
pupils in the same school. It may be in the form of physical
abuse that is, hitting or direct verbal abuse that is, indecent
name-calling, incessantly taunting and poking fun. It is
therefore an unfavorable condition, which also does not
encourage students to be in school, since it violates their right
to education. Other violations in schools include any act or
failure to act by teachers to cause serious behavioral, cognitive,
emotional or mental disorders in children. This can include
using extreme and or bizarre forms of punishment, such as
confinement in a closet or darkroom or being tied to a chair
for long period or threatening to terrorize a child or student.
Using derogatory terms to describe the child or student,
habitual scape gloating or blaming (Ref. Child Abuse
Prevention and Treatment Act).

Physical Violations/Abuse
Inflicting physical injury upon a child. This may include,
hitting, punching, kicking, beating or any form of brutal
assault or otherwise of harming a child. Over discipline or
physical punishment that is inappropriate to the child‘s age is
a violation. Corporal punishment meted out to pupils/
students have been of major concern to many countries
including Ghana and even contested in a number of cases
before European court of Human Rights. European court of
Human Rights Series ‗A‘ Volume 247 – c reports that many
children are punished by teachers and parents which violate
the rights of children worldwide. Article 3 of the European
Convention of Protection of Human Right and Fundamental
Freedom and Article 15 (2a and b), The Ghanaian Constitution
provides that ―no one person shall, whether or not he is
arrested, restricted or detained, be subject to:
a) Torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment,
b) Any other condition that detracts or is likely to distract
from his dignity and worth as human being.
Definition of Corporal Punishment
It is an activity of punishing pupils or children by hitting a
part of the body often with a stick. The forms of corporal
punishment are caning, hitting, slaping, weeding, carrying
heavy loads like block and gallon of water, squatting, hopping

for several minutes, running around the fields and class room
and punching, pitching of chins and scrubbing urinal.
Forms of corporal punishment
Caning
The teachers always punish pupils who come to school late.
The late comers receive not less than six lashes. After the
pupils received lashes they felt sad in the classroom. They
become inattentive and absent minded whenever the teachers
are teaching their lessons pupils normally received canes on
their buttocks while few pupils receive on their palms and
their backs. Sometimes the teachers do not cane their culprits;
they (teachers) rather instruct the offenders to cane
themselves one after the other which they call ―exchange
caning.‖ If they try to Sympathize with each other by caning
lightly. The teacher will demonstrate by caning the
sympathizers hard this create enmity and division among
pupils.
Weeding
The pupils the teachers refer to as storbbons or recalcitrant
are given large portion of school fields to weed. Some pupils
are instructed to use blunt cutlasses or hoes to do the work.
Sometimes pupils do the work in the hot afternoon; in the
scotchy weather. Late comers or offenders sweat profusely and
also feel thirsty. Some pupils do the weeding at the detriment
of their lessons. Sometimes it takes note less than two days to
finish the work. Pupils are sometimes sent to the school farm

or garden to weed under the crops such as maize, cassava and
beans. Those given internal suspension go to school and weed
whiles their friends learn. The offenders go to break when the
school breaks for play or rest. The culprits start their work or
weeding when it is break over until the school close for that
day. The work goes on or continues until the specified days for
the punishment is over or elapsed.
Squatting
Another form corporal punishment which is also common
practiced at case study school is squatting. The late comers
and other offenders are also ask to squat in the corners of the
classroom or in front of the class or close to the chalkboard
until the teacher in charge finishes teaching. Sometimes the
culprits are denied of going out for break. The offenders squat
for a while and raise their hands till they start feeling pains in
their thighs and waist. The teachers developed, discovered,
and used another squatting form of punishment known as ‗‗tri-
squatting‘‘. This form of punishment meted out to pupils
involves three [3] activities actions at a goal. The offenders or
culprits raise their hands and move forward for a reasonable
distance whiles still squatting.
Kneeling
Kneeling in the school is another common and easy form of
corporal punishment met out or use by teachers. Teachers ask
pupils or a culprit to go down on them kneels for so many
hours. The offenders or culprits usually kneel down at the

assembly ground, under the trees, in front the class and on
verandas. The teachers engage the culprits to kneel down until
the whole period or lesson is ends before releasing them
(culprits). In some cases, the culprits are also punished to
kneel down in scorch weather especially afternoon assembly
whiles inspecting other punishments given out. Sometimes
those who are fortunate to have been released earlier will be
ask to walk on their knees to the classroom, assembly grounds,
school field and staff common room. As a result of kneeling
for long, some pupil‘s knees got swollen and those unfortunate
ones knelt on pebbles sustained injuries on their knees.
Hopping and Running Round the Field and the Classroom
The last form of corporal punishment to be discussed under
this case study is hopping and running round the field and the
classroom. This form of corporal punishment is meted out to
some categories of pupils examples those sleeping in class,
inattentive pupils, lazy pupils and talkative (those who disturb
in class). Some pupils do sleep whenever teachers are teaching
in class. They complain of work load in their various homes.
They (pupils) give excuses that they run errands to their
parents before coming to school. The teachers do not take
such excuses for that matter; teachers punish those who sleep
in class to run round the school field three or four times to
keep them active. Those (pupils) do not focus or concentrate
on the lesson delivering are also meted out similar punishment
by running round the classroom for some specified minutes or

time. The teachers call pupils who do not focus or concentrate
in class as inattentive pupils. Few pupils also do not want to
learn whenever they come to school nor do exercises given to
them by teachers also fall victims of running round the school
field and classroom. The last groups of victims are those who
distract pupil‘s attention in class by making noise, moving up
and down, having private conversation also end up receiving
their share of punishment by running round the school field
and the classroom for a specific time and number until the
teachers are content of punishment.
Carrying heavy loads
Sometimes, when pupils do wrong or commit an offence, the
culprits are punished by carrying heavy loads like twenty-five
(25) liters of gallon of water, cement blocks and bucket of
sand. The offenders are punished fill the uncemented
classrooms to level the ground and also reduce dust in the
classrooms. The culprits use mattock and pickaxe to dig the
soil or earth, fetch with shovel and carry themselves without
any help from other unoffended pupils. After leveling the
uncemented classroom, they would then fetch water of 25
liters of gallons and buckets to water dusty classrooms. They
fetch as many as the quantity that fill or reduce the dusty
nature of the ground. Another group of miscreants termed as
‗‘matso‘‘ meaning strong pupils are also engage in carrying
heavy blocks to the school‘s new site which about half a
kilometre from the school. Whenever the animals like sheep,

goats, fowls and cattle close to drop their downs on the
veranda, the offenders are asked fetch water from nearby
stream to scrub, sweep and mop the place such as veranda.

UNIT THREE
Causes and consequences of human rights abuses in
school setting
Introduction
The lesson focuses on exploring the various causes and
consequences of human rights abuses in the school context.
Student teachers would also be given the opportunity to
interact with accomplished and seasoned human rights experts
and advocates or watch videos of them sharing their
experiences. This would enable student teachers to reflect, re-
think and develop ways of identifying and addressing the
causes of human rights abuses and its effect on teaching and
learning outcome. The lesson will be delivered through
teaching and hands-on activities such as expert talks and video
analyses.
Causes of Human Rights Violations in Schools:
Teachers caned students for a wide range of infractions, some
serious, some extra ordinarily minor. As reasons for
punishment, students, teachers and head teachers frequently
cited tardiness, making noise or talking in class, truancy or
absenteeism, bullying, fighting, stealing, disobedience,
rudeness, leaving the classroom or school, when the Teacher is
away as some of the causes, other causes of human rights
violations include:
1. Failure to complete homework or assignment.
2. unpreparedness for class; Using drugs,
3. smoking cigarettes,
4. inattentiveness or falling asleep in class
5. Profanity.
Effects of These Violations on Children’s Education

Educational experts argue that the long-term costs of corporal
punishment outweigh any short-term benefit that might be
gained by its application. Although the application of corporal
punishment may take less than a minute, its effects may last
for years, and the family, the local community and society, pay
the price for teachers‘ actions.
According to one author on the subject, ―experts have found
out that corporal punishment may produce in children
neurotic reactions such as depression, withdrawals, anxiety,
and in older children substance abuse, interference with
schoolwork and precocious sexual behavior‖.
According to many experts in the field, children feel
humiliated and degraded. They become angry and resentful
towards those who punish them. Their repressed anger can be
manifested as hatred towards self and for others. Some
psychological and educational research indicates that children
who are punished physically are more likely to bully their
peers or juniors.
―Corporal punishment‖ may cause children to exhibit
increased physical aggressiveness. Coupling aggressiveness
with lack of empathy creates a propensity to hurt others
without compunction, which affects schoolwork.

Kenyan Educations and Children‘s Rights Activists all over the
world agree that the imposition of corporal punishment
promotes bullying. Kenyan children interviewed by Human
Rights Watch affirmed that, they perceive corporal punishment
as humiliating, painful, frightening and anger inspiring.
Most children say, ―Caning‖ should be stopped, because most
of them do not like it, they are afraid of it and it hurts. It is
also on record that caning contributed a lot to students
becoming rebellious. That anger makes you rebellious to want
to revenge after being caned. The fear of the cane makes some
children to drop out of school or become uninterested in
school.
Academically those who are abused in one way or the other
normally became dull and look indifferent in class. It is equally
true those students of a school that has bullying or other
forms of abuses/ violations may not perform well in their final
examinations
How to Reduce Common Human Right Abuses In Our
Schools
✓ The Ministry of Education through the Ghana Education
Service should create awareness by organizing campaigns and
training for practicing teachers on discipline and alternatives
for corporal punishments in schools.
✓ The Ministry of Education through the Ghana Education
Service should;

a) Support the capacity of the school guidance and
counseling program to counsel both offenders and victims
of human rights violations in schools.
b) Sponsor workshops to train teachers on methods of
disciplining students who physically abusive. c)
Scholarships should be given to needy but brilliant
students who cannot afford to pay fees and school bills.
c) See to it that classrooms are not over crowded.
d) Counselors in the schools should be provided with
permanent offices so as they will be regular in the schools.
e) Ghana Education Service should investigate thoroughly
every incident of severe corporal punishment or sexual
abuses reported in the Ghanaian media by parents and
publish the result of investigations and the penalties given
to the violators.
School authorities and teachers’
a) To refrain from disciplining students corporally.
b) To educate and support other staff members to stop
using physical discipline.
c) Report cases of corporal punishments, sexual abuse and
harassments to the ministry of education and the Ghana
education service for redress.
d) Teachers should ban the use of the cane.
e) There should be dismissal for offenders (especially male
teachers) who propose female students in the school.

f) Talks on human rights violations in the school should be
encouraged or promoted.
g) Counseling of students should be on regular basis in the
school to enable students to comport themselves and
dress as decently as possible.
h) Orientation needs to be given to school authorities and
teachers on human rights education.
i) Ghana Education Service should sponsor teachers to
further their educations on human rights education.
j) Ghana Education Service should provide district
education human rights offices to deal with human
rights abuses cases.

UNIT FOUR
ISSUES OF GENDER AND INCLUSION IN THE SCHOOL
SETTING
Introduction
This unit introduces student-teachers to the concepts of
Gender and Inclusion. The unit throws lights on the need for
gender equality and empowerment of women as well as their
active participation in political, economic, social and cultural
life in society. The unit will also lay emphasis on the
misconceptions associated with the term ―gender‖ and its
associated issues in contemporary society.
 Misconceptions associated with concepts of ―sex‖,
―gender‖, and ―sexuality‖
 Gender roles
 Sexual maturation (puberty, adulthood and human
reproduction)
 Healthy sexual lifestyle (age-appropriate sex education to
young learners)
Defining Sex, Gender, and Sexuality
Sex refers to biological characteristics, while gender is socially
determined based on those characteristics. ―Sex‖ refers to
physiological differences found among male and female. Sex
includes both primary sex characteristics (those related to the
reproductive system) and secondary sex characteristics (those
that are not directly related to the reproductive system, such
as breasts and facial hair). In humans, the biological sex of a
child is determined at birth based on several factors, including
chromosomes, gonads, hormones, internal reproductive
anatomy, and genitalia.
Example:
♦ Women can be pregnant and give birth.
♦ A man can make woman pregnant.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines gender Trusted
Source as: ―Gender refers to the socially constructed
characteristics of women and men, such as norms, roles, and
relationships of and between groups of women and men. It
varies from society to society and can be changed.‖ Gender is a
term that refers to social or cultural distinctions associated
with being male, female, or intersex. Typically, babies born
with male sex characteristics (sex) are assigned as boys
(gender); babies born with female sex characteristics (sex) are
assigned as girls (gender). Because our society operates in a
binary system when it comes to gender (in other words, seeing
gender as only having two options), many children who are
born intersex are forcibly assigned as either a boy or a girl and
even surgically ―corrected‖ to fit a particular gender. Scholars
generally regard gender as a social construct—meaning that it
does not exist naturally, but is instead a concept that is
created by cultural and societal norms.
Gender can be defined as: it is a description of roles, activities
and responsibilities assigned to men and women in a given
society, culture, community or time. It also:

• Refers the expectations of people from someone, because
either they are female or male.
• Men and women are expected to perform the fixed roles
assigned to them by the society.
• Is socially prescribed roles, and behaviours expected from
men and women and in this prescription women assume lower
status
• It is a learned process and can be changed
Example:
 She will be a great cook!
 He will be a great Dr!
As a consequence of this social approval boys become more
independent and more reliant upon internal standards of
excellence in achievement situation. While girls do not expect
to achieve, they underestimate their academic abilities.
Generally, girls socialize to be more dependents, more
conformist and more vulnerable to interpersonal rejection
than boys.
However, there is no difference in intellectual level given the
same comparable incentives women‘s could do as well as men
in any kind of mental activities. Human are the products of
socialization they behave in a way society expects them to
behave, ie, their upbringing dominates their life style. As
indicated above women are brought up to conform and men to
achieve. Moreover, the previous biased educational system
favours men and disfavours women.

Gender Awareness is important because:
♦ Decision-making between couples is not carried out in a
gender neutral environment. Biological and social factors do
not function Gender Issues separately but; there is a dynamic
interaction among these factors and affecting women in all
aspects of life.
♦ Gender issues function at household, community and
national level adhered in society‘s social, cultural, economic
and political system.
♦ Gender also affects even the Reproductive Health decision
making, because women make choice within the context of
their communities where gender roles, responsibilities and
status are defined. Even the sectors‘ response is shaped by
gender factor.
♦ Men are controlling over economic, political and reproductive
life. Whereas women are expected to be submissive, obedient,
respectful, and vulnerable to abusive treatments.
♦ This division of role and expectation favours one sex and
victimize the other counterpart. Obviously the party at the
disadvantaged wing are women. As a result of gender based
notion and discrimination women have been suffering in many
societies including Ethiopia. One of these sufferings is gender
based discriminations including violence which will be
highlighted below.

Gender sensitivity
Definition: Gender sensitivity is the ability to recognize gender
issues and especially the ability to recognize both men‘s and
women‘s different perceptions, interests and expectations
arising from their different social and economic roles,
responsibilities and constraints.
Gender sensitivity/ awareness need the recognition that:
♦ Women have different and special needs.
♦ Women have been at a disadvantage relative to men to
control over the resources, welfare…etc
♦ Development entails working towards increased, equity,
equality and empowerment.
Gender equity:
Definition: means a fair share of benefits and responsibilities;
equality aims to give women equal treatment under the law,
equal access to education and equal remuneration for work.
Gender Equality:
Definition: Equality between men and women consists of equal
enjoyment by men and women or opportunities, resource and
rewards. A crucial element of equality is the empowerment of
directions.
♦ Gender equality has been identified as an issue because
equality does not exist now.
♦ There is an imbalance in the relative positions of women and
men that is reflected in a pattern of male dominance over
social and economic resources.

♦ Since women are now generally at a disadvantage or excluded
in relation to social and economic resources, decision making,
efforts to identify and redress imbalances have focussed on
women: enabling them to have the same opportunities as men.
♦ One big mistake observed is, gender problem is seen as
women‘s problem which implies that women are deficient in
some way. However, the problem is not women and what they
lack but the social institutions and practices that continue to
create a disadvantage for women.
♦ Social attitude place less value on women and the work they
do and discriminatory practices result inequitable access to
resources (land, health services, education, decision making,
positions…etc).
♦ Other common mistake is gender is, often overlooked as an
aspect of men‘s social identity. But the lives of men and
women are strongly influenced by gender; cultural norms
about masculinity and expectation of men as leaders, lovers,
decision-makers …etc shape high demands on men and their
behaviour for example: men are expected to be aggressive,
defend the nation or community by force of arms…etc.
♦ Thus it is necessary to consider the possibility of integrating
the two parties and social reconstruction in a way that there
could be constructive support that seeks to find new solutions
with the participation of women and men and this can be one
of the best opportunities for positive social change.

Gender mainstreaming
Definition: The process of assessing the implications for
women and men by any planned action, including legislation,
policies, programs and projects in all areas and at all levels. It
is a strategy for making women‘s as well as men‘s concern and
experiences as integral dimension of the design and
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and
societal spheres so that women can benefit equally and
inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve
gender equality (UN). It also means forging about the
conceptual and practical development and gender equality. It
also includes:
♦ Gender equality goals influence economic and social policies
and resource delivery programs.
♦ Concepts that gender equality be integrated into mainstream
decision making criteria process and are pursued from the
center.
♦ Increased involvement of women in decision making process.
♦ Ideas and practices in the mainstreaming allocation of social
resources and opportunities. One of the aim is to introduce
women's concerns related to their position (strategic interest)
in mainstream development agendas so as to transform the
agenda. Ex: one of the ways of ensuring that gender equality
concerns are integrated in agriculture is to make sure that
extension services address both men and women, that
technological packages are appropriate for both men and

women's role in agriculture. However, the issue might be
making sure that women have control over the land and not as
wives or dependents on men. Advocacy for women's land
rights would set the agenda for change of mainstream
programmes addressing gender equality in agriculture.
Sexuality
―Human sexuality‖ refers to people‘s sexual interest in and
attraction to others, as well as their capacity to have erotic
experiences and responses. People‘s sexual orientation is their
emotional and sexual attraction to particular sexes or genders,
which often shapes their sexuality. Sexuality may be
experienced and expressed in a variety of ways, including
thoughts, fantasies, desires, beliefs, attitudes, values,
behaviors, practices, roles, and relationships. These may
manifest themselves in biological, physical, emotional, social,
or spiritual aspects. The biological and physical aspects of
sexuality largely concern the human reproductive functions,
including the human sexual-response cycle and the basic
biological drive that exists in all species. Emotional aspects of
sexuality include bonds between individuals that are expressed
through profound feelings or physical manifestations of love,
trust, and care. Social aspects deal with the effects of human
society on one‘s sexuality, while spirituality concerns an
individual‘s spiritual connection with others through sexuality.
Sexuality also impacts and is impacted by cultural, political,

legal, philosophical, moral, ethical, and religious aspects of
life.
Sexual orientation refers to a person‘s emotional and sexual
attraction to a particular sex (male or female). Sexual
orientation is typically divided into four categories:
heterosexuality, the attraction to individuals of the opposite
sex; homosexuality, the attraction to individuals of one‘s own
sex; bisexuality, the attraction to individuals of either sex; or
asexuality, no attraction to either sex. Heterosexuals and
homosexuals may also be referred to informally as ―straight‖
and ―gay,‖ respectively. North America is a heteronormative
society, meaning it supports heterosexuality as the norm.
Consider that homosexuals are often asked, ―When did you
know you were gay?‖ but heterosexuals are rarely asked,
―When did you know that you were straight?‖ (Ryle 2011).
Each society, however, interprets sexuality and sexual activity
in different ways. Many societies around the world have
different attitudes about premarital sex, the age of sexual
consent, homosexuality, masturbation, and other sexual
behaviours that are not consistent with universally cultural
norms (Widmer, Treas, and Newcomb 1998). At the same time,
sociologists have learned that certain norms (like disapproval
of incest) are shared among most societies. Likewise, societies
generally have norms that reinforce their accepted social
system of sexuality.

What is considered ―normal‖ in terms of sexual behaviour is
based on the mores and values of the society. Societies that
value monogamy, for example, would likely oppose
extramarital sex. Individuals are socialized to sexual attitudes
by their family, education system, peers, media, and religion.
Historically, religion has been the greatest influence on sexual
behaviour in most societies, but in more recent years, peers
and the media have emerged as two of the strongest
influences, particularly with North American teens (Potard,
Courtois, and Rusch 2008). Let us take a closer look at sexual
attitudes in Canada and around the world.
Misconception is a term that is used when someone
understands/interprets an issue wrongly. There are some roles
that have been assigned to males or females because of their
sex. Some of these gender misconceptions in the community
are:
i. Males are heads and bread winners of families. Provision of
money for the up-keep of the family is thought as the sole role
of the father.
ii. Another one is that, males need to be educated and not
females. Society holds the thought that, since a female will be
married in the future and taken care of by the husband, then
there is no need for her to be educated.
iii. Females are seen as not having any economic responsibility.
iv. Females do not need higher formal education.
v. Females are seen to be feeble and too emotional

vi. Females are not to be part of making key decisions for the
family or community.
vii. Females are the ones who should perform household
chores such as cooking, washing and sweeping.
Gender issues include all aspects and concerns related to
women‘s and men‘s lives and situation in society, to the way
they interrelate, their differences in access to and use of
resources, their activities, and how they react to changes,
interventions and policies.
Inclusion
Gender equality is a global priority for UNESCO and
inextricably linked to its efforts to promote the right to
education and support the achievement of the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs). Through the Education 2030
Framework for Action, SDG 4 aims to ‗Ensure inclusive and
equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning
opportunities for all‘ and SDG 5 to ‗Achieve gender equality
and empower all women and girls.‘
The Education 2030 agenda recognizes that gender equality
requires an approach that ‗ensures that girls and boys, women
and men not only gain access to and complete education
cycles, but are empowered equally in and through education.‘
Large gender gaps exist in access, learning achievement and
continuation in education in many settings, most often at the
expense of girls, although in some regions boys are at a
disadvantage. Despite progress, more girls than boys still

remain out of school - 16 million girls will never set foot in a
classroom (UNESCO Institute for Statistics) - and women
account for two thirds of the 750 million adults without basic
literacy skills.
Poverty, geographical isolation, minority status, disability,
early marriage and pregnancy, gender-based violence, and
traditional attitudes about the status and role of women, are
among the many obstacles that stand in the way of women and
girls fully exercising their right to participate in, complete and
benefit from education.
The SDG4-Education 2030 Framework for Action aims to
ensure equity and inclusion in and through education by
addressing all forms of exclusion and marginalization,
disparity, vulnerability and inequality in education access,
participation, retention and completion and in learning
outcomes. More specifically, by 2030, the world aims - among
other targets - at ―eliminating gender disparities in education
and ensuring equal access to all levels of education and
vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with
disabilities, indigenous people and children in vulnerable
situations‖ (SDG 4, target 4.5). Gender equality and inclusion
are vital in achieving these aims and leaving no one behind in
the education agenda.
Any discussion of inclusion should always pay attention to the

gender dimension and the interactions between gender, social

class and ethnic background. In spite of the advances made by
females in school education, there are plenty of ways in which
females continue to be disadvantaged in school education and
beyond.
Gender Roles
Outcomes of education for female and male students have
been the subject of much discussion and research. In general,
females and males experience disparate educational outcomes
and fulfill different gender-specific roles both in school and in
the larger society.
As we grow, we learn how to behave from those around us. In
this socialization process, children are introduced to certain
roles that are typically linked to their biological sex. The term
gender role refers to society‘s concept of how men and women
are expected to act and how they should behave. These roles
are based on norms, or standards, created by society. In
Ghanaian culture, masculine roles are usually associated with
strength, aggression, and dominance, while feminine roles are
usually associated with passivity, nurturing, and
subordination.
Healthy sexual lifestyle (age-appropriate sex education to

young learners)
Young people are encouraged to delay sexual activity until they
are physically, cognitively, and emotionally ready for mature
sexual relationships and their consequences. They should

rather receive education about intimacy, sexual limit-setting,
resistance to negative sexual pressures, benefits of abstinence,
prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs),
contraception, and delay of pregnancy. Because many
adolescents are or will be sexually active, they should receive
support and guidance in developing skills to evaluate their
readiness for responsible sexual relationships.
During adolescence, physical changes happen at an increased

rate. At the same time, young people experience cognitive,
social, emotional and interpersonal changes. During growth
and development, adolescents must deal with the influences of
outside factors such as parents, peers, community, culture,
religion, school, world events and the media. Although each
adolescent is an individual with an individual personality and
interests, there are many developmental issues that almost
every adolescent faces during early, middle and late adolescent
years.
Spirituality
 Honor the sacred aspect of sexual union
 Understand that sexual energy is not separate from being

human
 Understand that sexual union is one way human beings

connect body and soul

Contraception, protection, and body integrity
 Take responsibility for their own bodies and their own

orgasms
 If sexually active, use contraception effectively to avoid
unplanned pregnancy and use condoms and safer sex to
avoid contracting or spreading a sexually transmitted
disease
 Practice health-promoting behaviors, such as regular
checkups, breast or testicular self-exams, regular and
routine testing for STDs
Values
 Decide on what is personally ―right‖ and act on these
values
 Demonstrate tolerance for people with different values
 Are not threatened by others with sexual orientation
different from theirs
 Show respect to others whose cultural values, ethnic
heritage, age, socioeconomic status, religion, and gender
are different from theirs
Education
 Realize the consequences of sexual activity
 Comprehend the impact of media messages on thoughts,
feelings, values, and behaviors related to sexuality
 Understand that the drive for sex is powerful and can be
integrated into one‘s life in positive and healthy ways

 Only engage in consensual sex and non-exploitive sexual
behaviors
Communication
 Interact with all genders in appropriate and respectful
ways
 Communicate effectively with family and friends
 Ask questions of other adults about sexual issues, when
necessary
 Are able to communicate and negotiate sexual limits
 Communicate respectfully their desires to have sex and
not to have sex
 Accept refusals of sex without hostility or feeling
insulted
 Can physically express feelings of attraction and desire
in ways that do not focus on the genitals (ex: holding,
caressing, kissing, etc.)
 Talk with a partner about sexual activity before it occurs,
including limits, contraceptive and condom use, and
meaning in the relationship
 Communicate with partners their intentions for the
relationship (ex: only dating, want marriage)
 Listen to and respect others‘ boundaries and limits
 Are sensitive to non-verbal cues of others‘ boundaries
and limits

Relationships
 Develop friendships that do not have a sexual agenda
 Avoid exploitative relationships
 Choose partners who are responsible, trustworthy, safe
and giving
 Can be sexually intimate without being physical (ex: talk
about sexual feelings, verbally express attraction, do
things that awaken desire in partner)
 Take personal responsibility for their own boundaries
Self-esteem and self-worth
 Appreciate their own bodies
 Have a developed sense of self, an understanding of who
they are
 Enjoy sexual feelings without necessarily acting upon
them
 Allow themselves to be vulnerable
 Are becoming aware of the impact of negative sexual
experiences such as sexual abuse
 Are taking steps to address issues that have arisen as a
result of past experiences
 Feel confident in their ability to set appropriate
boundaries
 Realize that, by working through sexual issues,
individuals may heal psychological and emotional
wounding from past experiences

Sexual health education for young people (ages 10 to 24) is a
challenging topic. Sexually healthy adolescents decrease the
incidence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), HIV and
unintended pregnancy. A sexually healthy adolescent is able to
realize their individual potential around critical developmental
tasks related to sexuality. These tasks include:
 accepting his/her body; gender identity and sexual
orientation;
 communicating effectively with family, peers and
partners;
 possessing accurate knowledge of human anatomy and
physiology;
 understanding the risks, responsibilities, outcomes and
impacts of sexual actions;
 possessing the skills needed to take action to reduce
his/her risk;
 knowing how to use and access the health care system
and other community institutions to seek information,
and services as needed;
 setting appropriate sexual boundaries;
 acting responsibly according to his/her personal values;
 forming and maintaining meaningful, healthy
relationships
A core premise of youth development/sexual health
programming is that young people gain more from an
experience when they are actively involved. Research also

suggests that programs that are developed through a
partnership of youth and adults may be highly effective in
building young people‘s skills and reducing their sexual risk
taking behaviors. Such programs benefit the youth who help to
develop them and also have a greater impact on the young
people served. Sexual health education is responsive to the
specific needs of young people and allows young people the
opportunity to be active participants in the development and
delivery of sexual health education.
Positive youth development is a way to think about young
people which focuses on their assets (capacities, strengths and
developmental needs) and not on their deficits (risks, negative
behaviors and problems). This approach calls for the shifting
of attention away from a focus on the elimination of problems.
It develops strategies that increase young people‘s exposure to
positive and constructive relationships and activities that
promote healthy, responsible and compassionate choices. A
program that uses a positive youth development approach
works with young people to help them realize their fullest
potential
Sexual health education is most effective when it takes a
positive youth development approach that builds on young
people‘s existing strengths, skills and external assets.
Sexual health education provides a full range of scientifically
accurate information and options for sexual health and for
reducing the negative outcomes of sexual behavior.

Effective sexual health education interventions are those that
have been proven effective by demonstrating positive effects
on behavior with the intended participants.
Sexual health education provides young people with
opportunities to learn practice and apply the skills required to
maintain optimal sexual health.
Sexual health education provides information and skills that
are appropriate to the physical, intellectual and emotional
development, as well as the sexual orientation, of the intended
participant.

UNIT FIVE
Common Gender-Based Violence in Schools and their
Causes
Introduction
This lesson focuses on the concept of common gender-based
violence in and outside the school environment. It is also
intended to provide the opportunity for student teachers to
become conscious of the common violence in the school and
home as a result of inequalities experienced by people in terms
of a their (dis)ability, age, social class, religion and sexuality.
Meaning of Gender Based Violence (GBV)
Gender Based Violence is defined by the inter-Agency standing
committee (IASC) task Force on gender and humanitarian
Assistance as a ―…term for any harmful act that is perpetuated
against a person‘s will, and that is based on socially ascribed
(gender) differences between males and females.‖
GBV is both an expression of and a reinforcement of the often
subordinate status of females with respect to males. Patriarchy
a system under which the family and state are governed by
hierarchical relationships established and led by men is an
essential factor in the perpetuation of gender based violence in
many settings, for example, men use violence as a way to exert
control over women whom they regard as property or to show
other men their relative strength.

Causes of School Related Gender Based Violence (SRGBV)
1. Cultural beliefs: In most communities there is general
belief that men are superior and should also be lord over
women. Therefore children from this culture background
grow up with such belief, hence treat their colleagues girls
anyhow.
2. Physical differences: It is an indisputable fact that, boys
become stronger and is of bigger stature than girls in
terms of development. For that matter some boys abuse
their colleagues of the opposite sex unlawfully.
3. Religious norms: In some religions it is belief that women
are unclean and should always be left behind or isolated
in public places. Therefore children who are brought up in
this religion try to avoid colleagues of the opposite sex by
not mingling with them in class and other social
gathering.
4. Low level of women empowerment: In most communities
in Ghana it is believed that some particular occupations
and standards are for boys, hence discourage girls from
building self-confidence and high self-esteem, therefore
some girls do not attach importance to formal education
because they were brought up to believe the home is
where they belong and cannot go far in life if educated.
5. Substance abuse: when substances are abuse makes
people to do anything to their colleagues which turns to
abuse knowingly or unknowingly .

Types of School Related Gender Based Violence (SRGBV)
• Verbal abuse
• bullying
• Sexual abuse
• Harassment
Effects of School Related Gender Based Violence (SRGBV)
Damage Pupils Self-Esteem: Nansel (2001) explained that, a
child comes to know himself through the things they can do.
If a teacher calls a school child names that are hurtful, if they
yell at the child and tell them they cannot do anything right
when they fail an examination or make a mistake, it affect the
child‘s self-esteem. Even if the teacher occasionally offers
some praise to their pupils, it leaves the school child
astonished and confused because they are unsure of the
teacher‘s behavior. Verbal abuse can be highly dangerous
because it leaves no bruises on the child. Instead, the bruises
are left on the child‘s self-esteem. It is a slow form of abuse,
yet very detrimental to the school child (Bandura, 1977). Some
of these insults ruin on pupils by adults turn to be fulfilled in
the life of the pupil. Labelling a person can affect an
individual‘s self-conceptions. Sociological theories of
interaction have long held that we see ourselves as others see
us. If others see us as deviants, we may come to accept their
judgment (Lawrence, 1998).
Early Dropout of School: In research carried out by save the
Children, an NGO in 2006, sexual abuse was one of the most

frequently cited reasons for early drop out, alongside gender
discrimination and poverty. The same source states: Even less
severe forms of sexual advancement could damage a child‘s
education. The sexual harassment and abuse of girls in school
by their teachers and other pupils is perceived to be common
in Ghana. If a teacher, with unique power to advance a pupil
interests or ruins her hopes, puts sexual pressure on a girl in
his class, very few of them can resist. The findings of a study
conducted by Hazler (2000), found that boys who are sexually
abused tended to have more suicide attempts, abusive acts,
alcohol and other drug abuse, and run away from home more
often than sexually abused girls. In general, younger children
experiencing child sexual abuse tend to be a greater risk for
long-term emotional and social problems. The school girl may
become pregnant after sexual abuse or rape by a teacher or a
fellow pupil. This may also spread HIV and AIDS through their
sexual activities with a pupil or an adult. This may force the
pupil out of school (Schwartz et al, 2002).
Poor Academic Performance:
Particular concern has been the proof that frequent bullying
among children has negative impact on victim‘s school
achievement. This issue has been examined through a large
scale study of bullying in USA by Nansel, et al (2000). They
found from the observation of 15,000 pupils in grade 6 – 10
that there is a significant association between bullying
involvement and lower self-perceived academic achievement.

In addition to this, Schwartz et al (2002), notes that those who
are frequently involved in abusing others show poor academic
performance in school. A healthy mind lies in a healthy body.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), health is a
state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not
merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The right to health
is therefore an inclusive right that not only relates to personal
physical health, but also overlaps with many other human
rights and various human rights issues. This therefore explains
that when a child‘s right to health is abused, it has a direct
effect on his studies
Frequent Sickness: Child right abuse affects children of all
gender, ages, cultures and from all socioeconomic
backgrounds Hazler (2000).Basic School Pupils, because of
their age, if they are made to do certain type of work, if affects
their health. Children are susceptible to both physical and
psychological harm and may undertake jobs that are
inappropriate to their age and physical strength, for example,
carrying heavy buckets of water, bamboo and firewood. When
working in the kitchen, children may be exposed to toxic
cleaning chemicals, boiling liquids, extreme heat or cold. They
may have to operate equipment they are not equipped to
handle, as well as sharp knives, woodcutting implements or
other tools inappropriate for a child (ILO, 2008). These words
may affect the health of the child or render him vulnerable to
health problems.

Fear and Insecurity: According to Farrington (1993), pupils
whose rights are always abused become fearful and insecure.
The right to privacy protects individual autonomy and entitles
individuals to isolate themselves from their fellow human
being and withdraw from public life into their own private
spheres in order to shape their own lives according to their
personal wishes and expectations. Certain institutional
guarantees, such as protection of home, family, marriage and
the secrecy of correspondence support this aspect of the right
to privacy. If the right to privacy is not respected, children
become fearful. Children who are often beaten and scolded
tend to miss school more often because of fear and illness.
These children also have a much higher rate of accidents than
do other children and they are twice as likely to have impaired
vision and hearing, iron deficiency anemia, and higher than
normal levels of lead in the blood, which can impair brain
function (Hazler, 2000).
Humiliate and Degrade Pupils: Article 1 of Committee Against
Torture (CAT) defines torture as any act committed by a public
official or other person acting in an official capacity or at the
instigation of or with the consent of such a person by which
severe physical or mental pain or suffering is intentionally
inflicted on a person for a specific purpose, such as extortion
of information or confession, punishment, intimidation or
discrimination. This definition shows that severe caning in
schools is torture, ―torture is intended to humiliate, offend and

degrade a human being and turn him or her into a ‗thing‘
(Bandura, 1977, p. 24). As articulated in the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) which was ratified
by Ghana in 1990 and the chidren‘s Act of 1998 (Act 560),
children in Ghana have a right to education and should be free
from being subjected to harmful or degrading punishment and
any type of abusive or exploitative labour that shall deny the
child of his/her right to education. Teachers, as duty bearers
and members of Ghana Education Service have a responsibility
to uphold and protect children‘s rights (Ghana: GES, 2008).
Prevention of School Related Gender Based Violence

(SRGBV)
 There is need for clear legislation stating children‘s rights
in school and educators and teachers responsibilities to
protect, preserve and promote those rights.
 The Ministry of Education should push for the legislators
to design appropriate disciplinary measures that can be
taken when children‘s rights are violated.
 The Ghana Education Service should design systems to
support students to seek redress when their rights are
violated. This may include identifying teachers who could
serve as human rights laisons in schools.
 It may be important for the Ghana education Service to
develop a human rights barometer instrument that can be
used to conduct annual school census which can be

published to show the human friendly nature of each
school.
 The National Commission on Civic Education and non-
governmental organisations involved in child protection
issues should help the Ghana Education Service to develop
pre-service and in-service human right education
programmers for teachers
 Child protection agencies such as UNICEF, the Ministry of
Gender, Children and Social Protection, the Department of
Social Welfare to work with the Ghana Education Service to
develop safety nets for protecting children from further
abuse when those children take action to seek redress
because their rights have been violated.
 Human rights education should be carried in schools to
education students on their rights and responsibilities in
school.
 The Safe School for Girls campaign by UNICEF and other
child protection organisations should continue to ensure
that violence that girls suffer in education is addressed.

UNIT SIX
GENDER EXCLUSION/DISCRIMINATION
Introduction
The purpose of this lesson is to introduce student teachers to
the meaning, examples, causes and consequences of gender
exclusion and gender equality. This will equip the student
teacher to shape and help develop society devoid of
discrimination toward the vulnerable in society by providing
equal opportunities in education, employment etc. It will also
give student teachers the opportunity to relate well with their
students and colleagues by being reflective, objective, offer
more gender neutral responses to students and also use
gender-neutral language when teaching.
Gender is a socio-cultural constructed difference between the
two sexes. It refers to the way society encourages and teaches
the two sexes to behave in different ways through
socialization. Whereas sex refers to whether someone is
biologically male or female, the terms for gender are masculine
and feminine. Sex is biologically dependent but gender is
socially and culturally dependant. In other words, it does not
do not necessary follow that being a woman means neither
being feminine nor being a man is behaving in a masculine
way. Thus girls are not necessarily caring and compassionate;
boys do not have to be aggressive and competitive.

Meaning and Concept of Gender Exclusion/Discrimination
Gender exclusion is a means by which one gender is blocked
from having the rights and privileges that other gender is
enjoying. Gender discrimination describes the situation in
which people are treated differently simply because they are
feminine or masculine rather than the basis of their individual
skills, competences and capabilities. Gender discrimination in
the school and classroom setting is especially defined in terms
learning opportunity inequalities which may arise from social
or cultural norms.
Gender Inequality
The differences between the sexes (men and women) have
sometimes been seen as the basis for inequalities between
them. The development of feminism has led to the attention
being focused on the subordinate position of the woman in
many societies. Gender inequality is therefore the outcome of a
combination of different factors such as socialization
processes and some cultural practices. There are themes
characterize gender inequality such as: men and women are
situated in society not only differently but also unequally;
women get less from the material resources, social status,
power and learning opportunities for self-actualization than
men. Also when women and men share their social location; be
it a location based on class, race, occupation, ethnicity,
religion, education, nationality or any intersection of these
factors; men are well position than women.

This inequality results from the organisation of society, not
from any significant biological or personality differences
between women and men. Although individual human beings
may vary somewhat from each other in their profile of
potential and traits, no significant pattern of natural variation
distinguishes the sexes. Instead, all human beings are
characterised by a deep need for freedom to seek self-
actualization and by a fundamental malleability that leads
them to adapt to the constraints or opportunities for the
situation in which they find themselves.
To say that there is gender inequality, then, is to claim that
women are ‗situationally‘ less empowered than men to realize
the need they share with men for self-actualization. All
inequality issues assume that both women and men will
respond fairly easily and naturally to more egalitarian social
structures and situations. They affirm, in other words, it is
possible to change the situation.
Examples Gender Exclusion in the School
In the school system and for that matter in the classroom
setting, gender discrimination of goes on in varying degrees
being it conscientiously or unconsciously. Some examples are
o Leadership (Prefect-ship) given to boys and girls may be
assistants.
o Course/Programme selection: girls are not given
attention in some study areas in the classroom such as
mathematics, engineering science, technical subjects etc.

o Inequality distribution of oral questions during
instructional or contact periods
o Stereotyping subjects based on gender. For instance boys
do well in some subjects so teachers/facilitators focus on
the boys when teaching such subjects.
o Ridiculing girls when they get it wrong whiles
encouraging the boys ‗you can do better.‘
o Etc.
Types of Gender Discrimination in the School Setting

Four types of gender discrimination can be seen in the school
setting and these are: Direct discrimination, indirect
discrimination, harassment and victimisation.
Direct Discrimination
Direct discrimination happens when a person is treated less
favourably because of his or her gender. Often it is the
feminine that is discriminated against in the school setting as
a social institution. Direct discrimination can be intentional or
unintentional.
Indirect Discrimination
Indirect discrimination is normally unintended. This occurs
when rules and institutional norms turns to be gender bias.
Here there is a provision, criterion or practice that governs the
system. Example: Senior school prefect should always be a
male, class prefect is always a boy whiles assistant should be a
girl.
Harassment
Harassment is unwanted conduct being put up against
someone because of the person‘s gender in the school setting.
This unwarranted conduct violates the person‘s dignity and
intimidates, degrades, humiliates the person etc. Harassment
creates an offensive learning environment for the victims.
Examples are bullying, nicknames, pet-names, degrading
comments, gossips, etc. based on gender.
Victimisation
Victimisation in the school setting occurs when a learner
suffers a detriment because of his or her gender. Some
examples of school based victimisation includes; unfair
distribution of privileges based on gender, denying some
learners their due marks in assessments, deliberately
eliminating people based on their gender.
Causes of Gender Discrimination is the School Setting
It is sad that some people surfer discrimination based on
gender in the educational system. The primary causes of
gender discrimination in the schools setting is cultural based
fuel by male domination in the school. Both teachers and
learners are dominated by males and the females are often on
the minority. In such situations, the minority is often
discriminated against whether intentionally or unintentionally.
Secondly, cultural influences such as patriarchal bias cultural
traditions where men are always right. Most of the schools are
located in patriarchal societies where leadership and other

positions of influence are the preserve of men. In such
instances, school leadership becomes the preserve of men.
Again religious factors such as leadership roles and influence
also are reserved for the men. Most of the schools are faith
based institutions and some of these faith based organisations
have doctrines that encourage intentionally or unintentionally,
female suppression. These ideas end up forming the policies of
such faith based schools.
There are individual causes of gender discrimination in the
school settings too. Some individuals have personal
orientations and life experiences that turn to fuel gender
discrimination in the school settings.
Consequences of Gender Exclusion/Discrimination in the
School Setting
Gender discrimination/exclusion is a social cancer that is
eating into the fibre of the nation and hampering development
and productivity. This makes sense why the educational
system must eschew gender discrimination and exclusion.
Some of the effects or consequences of gender
discrimination/exclusion are as follows:
o The school becomes a less attractive for the (feminine)
mostly female learners which may result in them
dropping out or becoming truants.
o Females are not motivated to study some subjects or
pursue some academic programmes. These kill girls
potentials and study courses below their potentials.

o Female students keep some misconception about school
leadership positions. This denies them to take up roles
on leadership.
o Etc.
Solution for Gender Exclusion/Discrimination in the School

Setting
Although there are no gender one-size-fits-all answers, for all
gender discrimination in the schools setting, few remedies can
be suggested.
o Teachers must create the awareness of the hazards of
gender discrimination in schools.
o Enforce policies that deals with gender
exclusion/discrimination
o Uphold gender inclusion over gender exclusion
o Give equal opportunity to both girls and boy
o Etc.
Gender Inclusive Education

Gender inclusive education is not in any way equating boy and
girls to become the same, but that their rights, responsibilities,
privileges and opportunities. The assignment of educational
opportunities is independent of whether a person is born male
or female. When the educational system is familiar with the
similar gender concept in behaviour, aspirations and needs of
both women and men and how they are considered, valued and
favoured equally. It promotes development and national unity.

Importance of gender inclusive education
Gender equality prevents violence against women and girls. It‘s
essential for economic prosperity societies that value women
and men as equal are safer and healthier. Inclusive education
when practice well is very important because, all children are
able to be part of their community and develop a sense of
belonging and become better prepared for life in the
community as children and adults. It provides better
opportunities for learning.
Evidence shows that educators need to have gender awareness
to be open to girls and boys choices explore who they are and
make connections to people around them, as well as gain self-
confidence, wellbeing, peer acceptance and social support.
Base on the concept that education should address and
respond to the diverse needs of all learners, inclusive
education is about quality education, equal participation and
safety to learn without fear of discrimination or violence.

UNIT SEVEN
Methodologies for addressing gender inclusion in
schools
Concepts for addressing gender inclusion

The concept of inclusion in the schools is one of the biggest
challenges in any educational system all over the world.
Inclusive education is about developing and designing schools,
classrooms, educational programs and activities to enable
students with different learning abilities participate together.
Inclusive education stipulated that all learners attend their
neighborhood schools and equal opportunities given to them
with supportive services that promote learning. Dakar Frame
work for Action (2000) among its six (6) goals ensures that by
2015 all children of Primary School age should have more
access to and complete free schooling of acceptable quality
and reduction by 50% adult illiteracy among others. UNESCO
(2004) emphasized the right of every individual to education
regardless of colour, creed or any form of differences in
physical appearance or nationality. Inclusion has been
incorporated into almost every educational system, but there
is still the need to learn and understand the real meaning of
„Education for All‟ with quality and equity and recognize the
fundamental role of teachers in the advancement of social
justice, human rights, and opportunities for welfare of
students in the educational system. Every educational system
needs to face the challenges in providing equitable education
in order to consolidate inclusion for the benefit of the
community. Inclusion requires a large vision and specific
competencies for all teachers in the education system.
Teachers need to know that diversity is in the classroom, and
that they should attend to learners with a range of diverse
needs. It is not sufficient to have a neighborhood school or
building without a balanced curriculum that serves the needs
of individuals included in the schools. In the field of education,
inclusion (or inclusive education) is a model of instruction
consisting on providing educational services to students with
special needs without having to leave the regular education
classroom. The main principle of inclusion is that all students
must be appreciated by their diverse qualities, and that the
term "normal" is no longer a measurable trait. Within the 21st
century model of teaching and learning, all students must be
taught through standards designed by their developmental
level of skill.
Addressing gender-based abuses with children with special
needs and disability
General ways for addressing school-based gender abuses
outside the immediate classroom setting, efforts within other
school spaces also can shape school climate, address
inequality, and affect student performance. Nevertheless, in
this respect there has been little research on school-based
extracurricular groups focused on issues of social inclusion

and justice. This promote social inclusion and justice for
sexual and gender minority youth.
Special Education Needs is a restriction in the capacity of the
person to participate in and benefit from education on account
of an enduring physical, sensory, mental health or learning
disability, or any other condition which results in a person
learning differently from a person without that condition
Special Education Needs is the practice of educating students
with special needs in a way that addresses their individual
differences and needs. Ideally, this process involves the
individually planned and systematically monitored
arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and
materials, accessible settings. These interventions are designed
to help learners with special needs achieve a higher level of
personal self-sufficiency and success in school and their
community, than may be available if the learners were only
given access to a typical classroom education.
Meaning of Inclusive education
Is a process of addressing and responding to the diversity of
needs of all learners through inclusive practices in learning,
cultures and communities and reducing exclusion within and
from education. It involves changes and modifications in
content, approaches structures and strategies, with a common
vision which covers all children of the appropriate age range
and a conviction that is the responsibility of the regular
system to educate all children‖ (UNESCO,2005 a, p.13).

Strategies for promoting Inclusion in schools
 School administrators clearly support and actively
participate in providing leadership, guidance, and policies
consistent with an inclusive philosophy.
 School Improvement Plans address school-based needs for
including students with disabilities.
 All students receive instruction within an age-appropriate
general education curricular framework.
 General educators, special educators, and related service
providers have time for collaborative planning.
 Students with disabilities receive most, if not all, of their
special education and related services (e.g., physical
therapy, occupational therapy, and speech/language
therapy) within the general education classroom, based on
their Individual Education Program (IEP).
 There is cooperative learning. Cooperative learning is a
process whereby the teacher gives a task to a small group
of students (typically four to six), who are expected to
complete the task by working cooperatively with one
another. The teacher may assign different responsibilities
to different members of the group or ask each child to play
a specific role (such as recorder, reporter, and searcher).
Group instruction may actually be more advantageous than
one-on-one instruction because of the economy of teacher
effort, students learning how to interact with peers, and
students learning from peers. Small- group instruction is

the mode for the regular classroom if the students with
special needs are to be included (King-Sears & Carpenter,
2005).
 Teacher can scaffold and models the expected behaviour
and then guides the learner through the early stages of
understanding. As the learner‘s understanding increases,
the teacher gradually withdraws aid (hence the name
scaffolding). The goal is to have the learner internalize the
knowledge and operate independently whether abled or
disabled.
 Social skills are developed. Social skills are a critical
component of the primary school or preschool curriculum
for children with disability especially those with ID.
Children can learn to take turns, share, and work
cooperatively as part of their daily activities. The lunch
table for young children is an excellent location for
teaching social skills. Here, youngsters learn table manners,
as well as how to pass and share food, help others (pouring
juice, for example), and wait their turn.
o Barriers to inclusive education has been discussed earlier,
let us look at how we can support to overcome these
barriers.
3. Addressing school-based gender issues relating to the girl
child
To promote gender base related issues in relating to girl child
in schools the following ways can be considered:

6. Be reflective and be objective.
7. Get feedback from colleagues and students.
8. Use gender neutral language when appropriate.
9. Explain the context.
10. Seat and group students intentionally.
11. Use project base learning.
National/ School-Based Gender Policies
Historically, since the attainment of independence in 1957,
(and in recognition of the role played by women activists
during the struggle for independence) 10 women were
nominated and appointed to the legislature 8 based on the
introduction of the Representation of the People (Women
Members) Bill in 1960. This appointment established a
consciousness for gender equality and women‘s empowerment.
Also, following the first United Nations Conference on Women
in 1975, Ghana set up the National Council on Women and
Development (NCWD) [now known as the Department of
Gender] as the national machinery. The main task of the
national machinery then was to support government-wide
efforts in the empowerment of women through income
generation, social mobilization and social development.
After the Beijing Conference in 1995, NCWD submitted a
proposal for Affirmative Action and Gender mainstreaming to
the Office of the President. This led to the formulation of
guidelines for the promotion of Gender equality, rights and
opportunities for women in Ghana. Eventually, the NCWD was

placed within the Office of the President; with linkages to
relevant MDAs to enable it play an active and catalytic role in
facilitating cooperation between all agencies of government,
Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Civil Society
Organizations (CSOs). It set the pace for the establishment of
an improved administrative framework for addressing
women‘s affairs by creating Gender Desk Officers (GDOs) in
most MDAs. Their role was to ensure that gender concerns are
incorporated into sector policies, plans and programmes of
MDAs.
National gender policy (2004) outlines strategies for
addressing violence against women and gender base violence.
The main objective is to promote equal advancements of
women and men in all sectors. Create equal opportunities for
women and men in decision making in all areas and at all
levels. The goal of the National Gender Policy is to build a just
society devoid of discrimination, harness the full potentials of
all social groups regardless of sex or circumstance, promote
the enjoyment of fundamental human rights and protect
health, social, economic and political wellbeing of all citizens.
What does the gender policy framework do?

To provide for the development and implementation of public
education programmes on practices on practices that unfair
discriminate on grounds of gender as contemplated in
applicable legislation and in international agreement in order

to promote gender equality and social cohesion. The national
Gender Policy is important for the country to promote gender
equality and women empowerment for reducing gender
inequalities to facilitate attainment of sustainable social and
economic development. Gender is an important consideration
in development. It is a way of looking at how social norms and
power structures impact on the lives and opportunities
available to groups of men and women. Globally more women
than men live in poverty.
How do you develop a gender policy?
1. Establish a task a force and a work plan. Develop a draft.
2. Policy and consult, across the board undertake. A
comprehensive.
3. Gender audit. Lobby for support make sure the policy is
adapted and voted on.
4. By the relevant body, ensure that other relevant policies.
5. Review and adapted, ensure that the policy informs the
party‘s.
Challenges Identified Through National Consultation
The following are the challenges to achieving targets of Gender
Equality and Women Empowerment in Ghana discussed and
derived through reviews and national consultations. In no
order of importance, they are:
1. Competing government priorities and Political Will: A major
challenge facing gender equality, social protection and
women‘s empowerment is not only the limited acceleration of

the implementation of Gender Responsive Budgeting initiative
that government agreed to undertake through the Ministry of
Finance; but the Ministry (MoGCSP) is perceived as ―a
consuming machinery‖, and not a Ministry in the priority value
chain of government.
2. Weak Gender mainstreaming coordinating role of the
Ministry: The Ministry, as the highest authority in the gender
machinery, is not providing the required effective and
inclusive national coordination role for gender mainstreaming
in Ghana mainly because of budgetary and capacity
constraints.
3. Conceptual clarification of Gender Equality in the public
sector: There is enough evidence that government/public
sector structures and some Development Partners still
demonstrate insufficient understanding and knowledge of
gender equality and gender mainstreaming. Lack of
professional knowledge and skills on gender causes conceptual
clumsiness, and it is a key accountability challenge in the
sector.
4. Feminization of poverty: Poverty is a major problem for
women and girls in Ghana especially rural women. Female-
headed household‘s more than male-headed households are
performing better in poverty ratings as compared with males.
This notwithstanding, the incidence of poverty is much more
among females than males.

5. Socio-cultural, traditional beliefs and socialization: Due to
the patriarchal structure of most societies in Ghana, systemic
male domination and female subordination, socio-cultural and
discriminatory institutions and structures restrict women
(including the marginalized and the vulnerable) from access to
equal opportunities including productive resources, such as
land, credit, education and training opportunities among other
support systems.
6. Inadequate basic social services: There exists inadequate
basic social service such as education, health, water and
sanitation in a number of communities to enable the majority
of ordinary citizens to have decent livelihood.
7. Weak informal GE-WE social protection mechanisms and
targeting challenges for government initiatives: Social
protection at the local and informal levels using the extended
family system has broken down at the expense of
urbanization. Successive governments have initiated a number
of social protection measures as discussed which aimed at
alleviating and subsequently, eradicating poverty, thereby
guaranteeing the rights of the vulnerable and the marginalized.
However, targeting has been a challenge for these initiatives.
8. Limited attention to issues and aspirations of women with
disability: Existing interventions for women have not
adequately and specifically addressed the concerns of Women
with Disability (WWD). There is insufficient information and
understanding of the situation of WWD and this affects the

planning, implementation and monitoring of women‘s
initiatives with the WWD lens.
9. Violence against women: Violence against women and
human trafficking is a major emerging problem in Ghana that
needs more aggressive and a quicker policy response. The high
incidence of rape and other sexual offences from the DOVVSU
records is alarming. Even though reported cases have been
legally dealt with, there is the need for national policy action to
curb the prevalence of rape, sexual abuse, serial women and
wives killings, maiming and human trafficking.
10. Lack of effective monitoring and evaluation systems and
practice within the sector machinery: The absence of
developing effective gender responsive M&E system and
ensuring its operationalization results in several problems
including ‗limited or no tracking of implementation and
results‘, ‗poor learning and direction for success‘, ‗outright
failure of projects‘. It is necessary to develop and
operationalize an M&E system in a results oriented manner to
promote regular tracking of progress and sector policies,
programmes and actions for effective transformation of lives
of the citizenry.
11. Weak strategic gender partnership: The limited budgetary
arrangements in the sector are manifestations of insufficient
partnership between government/public sector, civil society,
private sector and Development Partners. Strategic
partnerships, constituency building and networking are

essential in the implementation of all the strategies identified
to address emerging issues. This effort requires facilitative
support from the highest level of governance particularly the
Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary.
12. Low representation of women in politics: This is still a
challenge because the required 40% female representation has
not been achieved. Women are still under represented in all the
major sectors of the economy, particularly in the three arms of
government, public sector institutions, and other key decision
making structures. More challenging is the limited collective
power of women to speak for themselves on their issues in a
democratic manner. Women‘s empowerment networks and
mechanism must reinvigorate their energies to spearhead
efforts in this direction.
13. Discriminatory customary practices: systemic gender and
social biases in cultural practices over- expose the girl child
especially to abuse including early and forced marriages,
sexual violence, denial of education and cultural servitude.
14. Slow implementation and enforcement of laws: There is
evidence that law enforcement is very slow to the detriment of
the vulnerable and the marginalized. Implementation and
enforcement of laws must therefore be accelerated through the
gender policy, encouraging the reportage of crimes against
women and children particularly.
15. Women have limited access to justice: weak legal
frameworks, poor institutional infrastructure, non-compliance,

lack of knowledge about service delivery points, inadequate
legal aid scheme and personnel worsen women‘s access to
justice. These continue to limit progress towards the
empowerment of women in Ghana, and results in failure to
attain the required gender justice and human development
targets.
16. Limited access to land and other productive resources by
women for agricultural purposes: customary law
predominantly, governs the land tenure system in Ghana.
Customary law considers property as a family asset to be
administered by the family head, who is usually a man. As a
result, women‘s access to land and to agricultural inputs is
relatively poor. This partly has roots in inheritance systems
that are largely based on patrilineal systems emanating from
patriarchal societies. Irrespective of this, to some extent,
women in matrilineal communities do inherit land from either
their female ancestors or fathers. On the whole, women need
credit or finance to prepare the land if they access it. This is
due to the fact that they do not have collateral, they are unable
to access formal credit from the financial institutions and they
depend on the informal ones which are expensive. Even if they
are able to access the formal ones the amount is so small and
cannot cater for their agricultural needs. Women need the
credit to hire labour and extension services for information on
improved technology but extension services are also skewed to

men due to the limited number of female extension officers
and other socio-cultural issues.
17. Maternal mortality and reproductive health: Ghana‘s
maternal mortality ratio remains quite high despite several
efforts and interventions by government and Development
Partners to achieving the MDG 5 targets. A large number of
women are dying annually because of pregnancy related
complications: severe bleeding (hemorrhage), hypertensive
diseases, infections and unsafe abortions.
18. Engendering HIV/AIDS Biases: Stigma and discrimination
against people living with HIV/AIDS is quite high, coupled with
misconceptions about the disease and lack of gender analysis
in tackling the epidemic. Also, availability of adequate
treatment is a primary challenge.
19. Women‘s limited access to wage employment and decent
livelihood: Achieving gender equality and empowerment of
women depend largely on women‘s access to wage
employment and decent work. Women‘s employment remains
in ―low pay jobs‖, because they are predominate in the
informal sector, domestic work and traditional farming
ventures. The main challenge here is the need to engender
Ghana‘s macro-economic policies and strategies that promote
accelerated economic growth in conjunction with improved
education and affirmative action interventions among others.
20. Access to science and technology: Gender gap exists in
access to science and technology, digital knowledge and skills.

The challenge is how to bridge the gap to include women‘s
needs and strategic interests in the establishment of digital
knowledge–based society.
21. Limited support of the media for gender activism: The
Media space for gender activism has not been effectively
engaged. In addition, the media also continues to portray
women in stereotyped and sexualized roles. Gender activists
and the media need to work together as a constituency
through partnerships on projects. The media has also not been
engaged as a regulatory body for gender and democracy, to
address issues of women such as poverty, reproductive health
matters and sexual violence. The power of the media should be
explored to benefit all, especially the ordinary men and
women, girls and boys in communities.
22. Weak accountable governance: Existing governance
institutions and democratic structures are weak in gender and
social protection. It is not clear how gender equality and social
protection are accounted for in governance and democracy.
The greatest threats to good accountable governance come
from corruption, violence, especially violence against women
and girls and poverty. All of these undermine transparency,
security, participation and fundamental freedoms.
5. General ways for addressing school-based gender abuses
 Outside the immediate classroom setting, efforts within
other school spaces also can shape school climate,
address inequality, and affect student performance.

Nevertheless, in this respect there has been little
research on school-based extra-curricular groups focused
on issues of social inclusion and justice. This promote
social inclusion and justice for sexual and gender
minority youth.
 Formation of school-based gender club by teachers under
the skilled guidance of experts the school authorities in
order to create awareness of gender inclusion.
 Teachers may adapt the gender club and be patrons of
them.
Role of teachers in challenging gender inequalities
 Teachers must provide seating arrangements as per their
irrespective of their gender or cast or religion etc.
 Teachers should arrange names in the attendance
register as alphabetical order irrespective of the gender.
 Teachers must ensure equal participation in the
classroom activities.
 Teachers must ensure equal opportunities in classroom
activities.
 Teachers must assign roles the students irrespective of
gender.
 Teachers should distribute learning materials equally.
 Create awareness in health education considering both
the gender.
 Sighting gender fair examples in classroom.
 Provide moral stories for mutual respect.
 Ensure your students aware of gender equality

UNIT EIGHT
Common Hazards that Pose Disaster Risks in Schools
Introduction
During the development of human beings, people have
experienced and gradually understood all kinds of hazards.
From different perspectives, disaster risk scientists studied on
the classification, temporal and spatial patterns, and causes of
hazards on the earth surface. Hazards in the school context
are potential triggers of disasters that can disrupt schooling
for children and pose danger to their lives. It is therefore
important for school management and stakeholders to ensure
that the school environment is safe for learners and school
workers. This unit intends to introduce student-teachers to
common hazards that pose disaster risks in school
environments and help them appreciate the need to eliminate,
minimize or monitor these hazards in order to reduce disaster
risk and create a safe learning environment for the school
community as well as protect the lives and schooling of
learners.
Concepts of hazards and disasters
United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
(UNISDR) (2009) defines hazard as a dangerous phenomenon,
substance, human activity, or condition that may cause loss of
life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of
livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or
environmental damage. This definition includes events that

occur: a) suddenly, such as an earthquake, flood, or fire; and b)
overtime, due to multi-level causes such as an economic shock,
violent conflict, and/or climate change. Hazards are the origins
of disasters. Hazards are detrimental to the development of
human beings and hinder the sustainability of the world.
Hazards can be single, sequential or combined in their origin
and effects. Each hazard is characterized by its location,
intensity, probability and likely frequency. Typical examples of
hazards can be the absence of rain (leading to drought) or the
abundance thereof (leading to flooding). Chemical
manufacturing plants near settlements can also be regarded as
hazardous; similarly, incorrect agricultural techniques will in
the long run lead to possible disasters. Hazards can either be a
creation of humans (anthropogenic) or the environment
(natural). Although the former can more easily is planned for
than the latter, in both cases the management of the hazard
will remain the same. Our development efforts and attention
should therefore be focused on the presence of various
hazards and this must inform our planning.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines a disaster as a
sudden ecological phenomenon of sufficient magnitude to
require external assistance. Landsman (2001) define it as any
event, typically occurring suddenly, that causes damage,
ecological disruption, loss of human life, deterioration of
health and health services, and which exceeds the capacity of
the affected community on a scale sufficient to require outside

assistance. Disaster include event in which a society or a
community undergoes acute deprivation of food and other
basic necessities due to natural and man-made calamities to
such an extent that the normal function of the society or the
community is disrupted and that it cannot subsist without
outside intervention.
A disaster is a serious disruption of the functioning of a
society, causing or threatens to cause, widespread human,
material, or environmental losses which exceed the ability of
affected community to cope using only its own resources
(South Africa, 2002). Disasters can be sudden (flash floods) or
progressive (drought). Disasters are caused due to the
interaction of humans with their environment. A disaster is a
function of the risk process. It results from the combination of
hazards, conditions of vulnerability and insufficient capacity
or measures to reduce the potential negative consequences of
risk (ISDR, 2002). Extreme natural phenomena do not in
themselves constitute hazards. It is only when such
phenomena occur in an environment where they pose a threat
to human life, property, infrastructure or the environment that
they can be classified as hazards.
Similarly in the case of technological developments, it is only
when such developments pose a danger e.g. industrial
accidents, infrastructure failures. In essence, a disaster is the
result of a hazard‘s impact on society. So the effects of a
disaster are determined by the extent of a community‘s

vulnerability to the hazard. Hazards in themselves do not
constitute disasters. The magnitude of disaster is usually
described in terms of the adverse effects which a disaster has
had on lives, property and infrastructure; environmental
damage; and the costs attached to post-disaster recovery and
rehabilitation. Hazards are increasingly dynamic and with
highly varying potential impacts. A wide range of geographical,
meteorological hydrological, environmental, technological,
biological and socio-political hazards can threaten livelihoods
and sustainable development.
Classification of hazards by causes
There are all kinds of hazards in human society. However,
from the perspective of causes, hazards can be divided into
two types, that is, hazards caused by natural factors and
hazards caused by human factors that are associated with
natural environments. In fact, the percentage of the former
type of hazards is dwindling, while that of the latter type of
hazards is increasing. Natural hazards - natural events or
occurrences that have the potential to cause disaster in the
environment. According to Palm (1990), natural hazards are
those triggered by climatic and geographical variability, which
is at least. Examples are such as thunderstorms, floods and
droughts. Human-made hazards – human-induced conditions
that have the potential to cause disaster in the environment.
Examples include fire, dilapidated buildings, defective
structures, uncovered wells/rivers/ lakes/cliffs on the way

to/near the schools, armed attack, transportation accidents,
industrial disaster, structure collapse, power failure, fire,
explosion, and mine disaster
On the basis of their origin, natural hazards are grouped into
many types including the following.
Geophysical hazard: A hazard originating from solid earth.

This term can be used interchangeably with the term
geological hazard. Examples are earthquake, rock and snow
avalanche, landslide, mudflow, tsunami, volcanic eruption, etc.
An uncontrolled fire fuelled by natural vegetation.
Hydrological hazard: A hazard caused by the occurrence,

movement, and distribution of the surface and subsurface
freshwater and saltwater. Examples are flood, water shortage
and drought.
Meteorological hazard: A hazard caused by short-lived, micro-

to mesoscale extreme weather and atmospheric conditions that
last from minutes to days. It includes thunderstorm, heat
wave, and fire.
Meteorological and hydrological disasters - Natural disasters

resulting from the abnormal or anomalous quantity, intensity,
temporal and spatial distribution, and combination of
meteorological and hydrological elements, causing adverse
impacts on people‘s lives and properties, industrial and
agricultural production, and ecological environment. Hydro-
meteorological hazards are the combination of hydrological
and meteorological hazards. It includes thunderstorm, flood,
drought, water shortage, heat wave, and fire
Climatologically hazard: A hazard caused by long-lived, meso-

to macro-scale atmospheric processes ranging from intra-
seasonal to multi-decadal climate variability.
Biological hazard: A hazard caused by the exposure to living

organisms and/or the toxic substances or vector-borne
diseases that they may carry. These are natural disasters in the
forest or grassland resulting from activities of living being,
lightning, or spontaneous combustion, causing damages to
crops, woods, cultivated animals and related facilities.
Examples are epidemics/pandemics (e.g. HIV/AIDS, COVID-19,
hepatitis, cholera, typhoid, Ebola), snakes and other dangerous
animals.
Eco-environmental disasters -Natural disasters induced by the

damage to ecosystem or ecological imbalance, bringing out
negative impacts on the harmony between human beings and
nature and on the living environment of human beings
Extra-terrestrial hazard: A hazard caused by asteroids,

meteoroids, and comets as they pass near earth, enter the
earth‘s atmosphere, and/or strike the earth, or change in
interplanetary conditions that affect the earth‘s
magnetosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere.
Space hazard: It is the perturbation of the earth‘s
magnetosphere because of changes in space weather. Thus, the
intensity of solar wind. Space hazards are caused by collisions
between space debris and satellites, space weather generated
by the Sun, and potential strikes by natural objects such as
asteroids that cross Earth‘s path. Examples are geomagnetic
storm and extra impact events.
Shallow earth processes hazard: Hazards that originate within

60 km (40 miles) of the Earth‘s outer surface. It is the sudden
or gradual, downward vertical movement of the ground
surface over a regional spatial extent. These hazards are
associated with and caused by shallow earthquakes. Most parts
of the world experience at least occasional shallow
earthquakes. Examples are regional subsidence and uplift,
local subsidence and heave, and ground collapse.
Atmospheric hazard: those that can interfere with the body‘s

ability to transport and utilize oxygen, or that have negative
toxicological effects on the human body. Atmospheric hazards
include things such as oxygen deficiencies, dusts, chemical
vapours, welding fumes, fogs, mists, tropical cyclone, tornado,
hail, snow, high winds, fog, hurricane, typhoon, mid-latitude
storm, lightning and thunderstorm, long-term climatic change,
and short-term climatic change.

Biophysical hazard: Hazards are range of hazards created by
the interactions between the geophysical environment and
humans that are threats to the social-ecological system (Smith
2004). It could be an uncontrolled fire fueled by natural
vegetation. For example, epidemics of diarrhoea occur
regularly in tropical countries when floods contaminate
drinking water supplies or destroy sewerage systems. Public
health disasters also occur when a pathogen (virus, bacteria or
parasite) creates a disease outbreak amongst a human
population lacking immunity. Other examples are examples are
disease, extreme temperature, wildfire,
Technological hazards include hazardous materials,

destructive processes, and hazardous designs.
Social violence hazards include weapons, crime, and

organized violence.
Compound hazards include fog, dam failure, and gas

explosion.
Complex disasters include famine, refugees, poisonous flood,

nuclear wastes and explosion of nuclear power plants
Atmosphere including drought, typhoon, rainstorm, hailstorm,

extreme low temperatures, frost, ice and snow, sandstorm, and
dry-hot wind.

Hydrosphere including flood, waterlogging, storm surge, sea
wave, and tsunami.
Lithosphere, including earthquake, landslide, debris flow,

subsidence, and wind-drift sand.
Biosphere, including crop diseases, crop pests, forest diseases

and pests, rodents, poisonous weeds, and red tide.
Geosphere, including soil erosion, desertification, soil

salinization, frozen soil, endemic disease, and environmental
pollution.
Social sphere including include fire, traffic accidents,

engineering and factory accidents
Ocean disasters - disasters resulting from the abnormal or

drastic change of the ocean environment and occurring on the
sea or coast. Example are Tsunamis, storm surge, extreme
waves, sea ice, red tide.
Seismic and geological disasters - Natural disasters resulting

from the sudden energy release or violent mass transport in
the lithosphere of the earth or long-term accumulative
geological changes, causing damages to human lives and
properties and ecological environment
Agricultural disasters - Agricultural diseases and pests, weeds

Forest disasters - Forest diseases and pests, rodents, forest
fires
Hazards may also be classified as rapid onset or slow onset.

Rapid onset hazards occur and function rapidly without
warning. Examples are fire outbreak, earthquake, volcanic
eruption, armed attack and transportation accidents. Slow
onset hazards occur and function slowly. Examples are storm,
flood and drought.
Risk is the probability of disaster loss in a future period of

time in a region, or the future disaster. Essentially, risk is the
probability of occurrence of a future hazardous event and its
impacts (loss and/or damage). UNISDR (2004) defines risk as
the probability of harmful consequences resulting from
interactions between natural or human-induced hazards and
vulnerable conditions. Two aspects that need special attention
are the influence of social factors on risk and the estimation of
hazard intensity and distribution.
Disaster risk usually refers to natural disaster or

environmental risk that is associated with natural factors. The
wide attention which disaster risk receives is related to the
disaster (especially catastrophic disaster) insurance and the
risk governance of emerging risks and very large-scale
disasters.

Category Risks
1. Fiscal crises in key economies
2. Failure of a major financial mechanism or
institution
3. Liquidity crises
4. Structurally high
Economic
unemployment/underemployment
5. Oil price shock to the global economy
6. Failure/shortfall of critical infrastructure
7. Decline of importance of US dollar as a
major currency
1. Greater incidence of extreme weather events
(e.g., floods, storms, fires)
2. Greater incidence of natural catastrophes
(e.g., earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic
eruptions, geomagnetic storms)
3. Greater incidence of man-made
Environmental environmental catastrophes (e.g., oil spills,
nuclear accidents)
4. Major biodiversity loss and ecosystem
collapse (land and sea)
5. Water crises
6. Failure of climate change mitigation and
adaptation
1. Global governance failure
2. Political collapse of a nation of geopolitical
importance
3. Increasing corruption
4. Major escalation in organized crime and
illicit trade
Geopolitical
5. Large-scale terrorist attacks
6. Deployment of weapons of mass destruction
7. Violent interstate conflict with regional
consequences
8. Escalation of economic and resource
nationalization
Societal 1. Food crises

Category Risks
2. Pandemic outbreak
3. Unmanageable burden of chronic disease
4. Severe income disparity
5. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria
6. Mismanaged urbanization (e.g., planning
failures, inadequate infrastructure, and supply
chains)
7. Profound political and social instability
1. Breakdown of critical information
infrastructure and networks
Technological
2. Escalation in large-scale cyber attacks
3. Massive incident of data fraud/theft
Global risk classification system of Davos World Economic
Forum (WEF, 2014)
Resultant effects of disasters
Mortality: Number of people killed or missing from a

hazardous event. The death toll refers to the number of death
population during or after the event, while the missing toll
only refers to the total number of missing people during the
event. Besides counting the total number of dead and missing
people, it is also important to calculate the percentage of killed
and missing people per 100,000 people. Thus, the effect of
population base can be eliminated in temporal and spatial
comparison of mortality.
Affected people: It refers to the total population that are

affected directly or indirectly by disasters. Directly affected

people are those whose health was affected, such as injured
and sick people, and those evacuated, displaced or relocated,
and those who suffered from the disaster-induced direct
damages to livelihoods, infrastructure, social culture,
environment, and properties. At the same time, disaster
statistics also need to include people whose houses were
destroyed or collapsed and people who receive food aid.
Indirectly affected population are those suffered from the

additive effects of disasters, namely people affected by
disaster-induced disruption or modification of economy,
critical facilities, basic services, business, work, society, and
health. In practice, due to the difficulty in counting indirectly
affected population, only directly affected population are
included in the disaster statistics. Likewise, it is also worth
calculating the percentage of affected people per 100,000
people. In additions to counting the killed and missing people
and affected people, it is also common to specify their ages,
genders, residence addresses, and disabilities.
Direct economic loss: Direct economic loss refers to disaster-

induced loss of materials or properties, such as houses,
factories, and infrastructures. Usually after the occurrence of a
disaster, it is advised to assess the property loss as soon as
possible to facilitate the cost estimation for disaster recovery
and insurance claims processing. It is also recommended to

calculate the percentage of direct economic loss accounting for
the global or national gross domestic product (GDP).
Direct economic loss can be further divided into agriculture

loss, loss of industrial and commercial facilities, houses,
critical infrastructure damaged or destroyed by disasters.
Direct agriculture loss: It refers to crop and livestock losses
and also includes the losses of poultry, fishery, and forestry.
Industrial facilities damaged or destroyed: It refers to the

loss of manufacturing and industrial facilities damaged or
destroyed by hazardous events.
Commercial facilities damaged or destroyed: It refers to the

loss of commercial facilities (including storage, warehouse,
cargo terminal, etc.) that are damaged or destroyed by
hazardous events.
Houses damaged: It refers to the loss of houses slightly

affected by hazardous events and subject to no structural or
architectural damages. After repair or clean up, these damaged
houses can still be habitable.
Houses destroyed: It refers to the loss of houses that

collapsed or were burnt, washed away, and severely damaged
and are no longer suitable for long-term habitation.

Critical infrastructure damaged or destroyed: It refers to the
loss of educational and health facilities and roads damaged or
destroyed by hazardous events.
Educational facilities damaged or destroyed: It refers to the

number of educational facilities damaged or destroyed by
hazardous events. Educational facilities include children‘s
playroom, kindergarten, elementary school, high school (junior
and senior), vocational school, college, university, training
center, adult education school, military school, and prison
school.
Health facilities damaged or destroyed: It refers to the

number of health facilities damaged or destroyed by
hazardous events. Health facilities include health centers,
clinics, local or regional hospitals, outpatient centers, and
facilities that provide basic health services.
Roads damaged or destroyed: It refers to the length of road

networks in kilometers that are damaged or destroyed by
hazardous events.
Infrastructure damaged or destroyed: It refers to the loss of

infrastructures other than the critical infrastructures, such as
railways, ports, airports.

Railways damaged or destroyed: It refers to the length of
railway networks in kilometers that are damaged or destroyed
by hazardous events.
Ports damaged or destroyed: It refers to the number of ports

that are damaged or destroyed by hazardous events.
Airports damaged or destroyed: It refers to the number of

airports that are damaged or destroyed by hazardous events.
Basic services: Basic services refer to the disruption of public

services or time loss due to low-quality services, which are
caused by hazardous events. Basic services include health
facilities, educational facilities, transportation system
(including train and bus terminals), ICT system, water supply,
solid waste management, power supply system, emergency
responses, etc.
The health facilities, educational facilities, transportation

system are mentioned above in the critical infrastructure loss
and infrastructure loss sections.
ICT system refers to communications and the associated

equipment network, including radio and TV stations, post
offices, public information offices, Internet, landline and
mobile telephones.

Water supply includes drinking water supply and sewerage
systems. Drinking water supply system includes drainage
system, water processing facilities, water transporting
channels (channels and aqueducts) and canals, water tank, or
tower. Sewerage system includes public sanitary facilities,
sewerage treatment system, collection and treatment of solid
wastes from public sanitation.
Solid waste management refers to collection and treatment of

solid wastes that are not from public sanitation. Power/energy
system includes power facilities, electrical substations, power
control centers, and other power services. Emergency response
includes disaster management offices, fire departments, police
stations, military and emergency control centers.

UNIT NINE
Disaster Risk Assessment in the School
Introduction
Disaster risk reduction begins with identification of existing
disaster risks in the school environment. The objective of this
unit is to equip student-teachers to be able to identify the
disaster risk(s) faced by the school due to natural or human
induced hazards, and vulnerabilities, and assess the existing
capacities of the school community to cope before, during, and
after the onset of a disaster. Student-teachers will learn the
steps involved in conducting disaster risk assessment in the
learning environment as a step towards improving the school‘s
disaster preparedness.
Key concepts for child-centered risk-informed programming
Hazard – Hazard is a rare or extreme event in the natural or
human made environment that adversely affects human life,
property or activity to the extent of causing a disaster. It is
essential to make a distinction between hazards and disasters,
and to recognize that the effect of the former upon the latter
is essentially a measure of the society‘s vulnerability. United
Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR)
defines hazard as a dangerous phenomenon, substance,
human activity, or condition that may cause loss of life, injury
or other health impacts, negatively impact education
programmes, property damage, loss of livelihoods and

services, social and economic disruption, or environmental
damage. This definition includes events that occur:
a) suddenly, such as an earthquake, flood, or fire; and
b) Overtime, due to multi-level causes such as an economic

shock, violent conflict, and/or climate change.
Risk - UNICEF defines risk as the function of how much the

population is vulnerable and the likelihood that the country
will be exposed to hazard, shock or stress, adjusted for how
much capacity exists in the hands of national and local actors
to cope by themselves. Risk is the product of hazard and
vulnerability. It is the expected losses (lives lost, persons
injured, damages to property and disruption of economic
activity) due to a particular hazard. It is the probability that a
person will experience an event in a specified period of time.
Risk as a function of hazard and vulnerability, a relationship
that is frequently illustrated with the following formula,
although the association is not strictly arthematic: Risk =
hazard x vulnerability. Risk is the probability of being affected
by the unwanted consequences of a hazard. It combines the
level of hazard and degree of vulnerability.
Risk assessment is a term used widely for a systematic
approach to characterizing the risks posed to individuals and
populations by potentially adverse exposures.
Risk-informed education programming - A risk-informed
education program is one that:

a. Is informed by an analysis of hazards, shocks, and
stresses; exposure; vulnerabilities; and capacities.
b. Employs strategies that reduce the vulnerabilities of

populations and systems to hazards, shocks, and
stresses, and promotes capacities to prevent, prepare for,
and respond to hazards, shocks, and stresses.
c. This makes education programs, populations, and

systems more resilient to cycles of hazards, shocks, and
stresses.
Shock - A sudden event that affects the vulnerability of a

system and its components or the moment where a slow-onset
process passes its tipping point and becomes an extreme
event.
Stress - A longer-term trend that undermines the potential of a
given system and increases the vulnerability of actors and
elements within it.
Exposure The presence of people, property, livelihoods,
service delivery systems, or other elements in areas that can be
impacted by various shocks or stresses.
Emergency is a state in which normal procedures are
suspended and extra-ordinary measures are taken in order to
avert a disaster. An emergency can be defined in the context of
the social, political and epidemiological circumstances in
which it occurs.

Mitigation: is permanent reduction of the risk of a disaster.
Primary mitigation refers to reducing the resistance of the
hazard and reducing vulnerability. Secondary mitigation refers
to reducing the effects of the hazard (preparedness).
Mitigation includes recognizing that disasters will occur;
attempts are made to reduce the harmful effects of a disaster,
and to limit their impact on human suffering and economic
assets.
Disaster prevention refers to measures taken to eliminate the
root causes that make people vulnerable to disaster.
Prevention is defined as those activities taken to prevent a
natural phenomenon or potential hazard from having harmful
effects on either people or economic assets. Delayed actions
drain the economy and the resources for emergency response
within a region. For developing nations, prevention is perhaps
the most critical components in managing disasters, however,
it is clearly one of the most difficult to promote.
Prevention planning is based on two issues: hazard
identification (identifying the actual threats facing a
community) and vulnerability assessment (evaluating the risk
and capacity of a community to handle the consequences of
the disaster). Once these issues put in order of priority,
emergency managers can determine the appropriate
prevention strategies.

Preparedness: Are the measures that ensure the organized
mobilization of personnel, funds, equipment, and supplies
within a safe environment for effective relief.
Disaster preparedness is building up of capacities before a
disaster situation prevails in order to reduce impacts. Its
measures include inter alia, availability of food reserve,
emergency reserve fund, seed reserve, health facilities, warning
systems, logistical infrastructure, relief manual, and shelves of
projects.
Reconstruction is the full resumption of socio-economic
activities plus preventive measures.
Rehabilitation is the restoration of basic social functions.
Response is the set of activities implemented after the impact
of a disaster in order to assess the needs, reduce the suffering,
limit the spread and the consequences of the disaster, open
the way to rehabilitation.
Susceptibility is exposure to danger.
Vulnerability - Vulnerability is the degree of loss resulting
from a potentially damaging phenomenon. The characteristics
and circumstances of a community, system, or asset that make
it susceptible to the damaging effects of a hazard, shock, or
stress. It is the susceptibility of a population to specific type of
event. Vulnerability is also associated with the degree of
possible or potential loss from a risk that results from a
hazard at a given intensity. The factors that influence intensity
include demographics, the age, and resilience of the

environment, technology, social differentiation and diversity as
well as regional and global economics and politics.
Capacity - The combination of all the strengths, attributes, and
resources available within a community, society, or
organization that can be used to achieve agreed-upon goals.
Resilience - Resilience is adaptability, capacity to recover.
UNICEF also defines resilience as the ability of children,
communities, and systems to anticipate, prevent, withstand,
adapt to, and recover from stresses and shocks while
advancing the rights of every child, with special attention to
the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children. Risk-
informed programming is one of UNICEF‘s pathways to
resilience; it is not synonymous with resilience.
Resilient Development - Resilient development means
providing children and families with what they need to better
prepare for and better manage crises, and recover from them
more rapidly. It requires addressing the underlying drivers of
inequity and fragility that cause environmental, economic, and
social deprivation and stresses. It means bridging the arbitrary
divide between development and humanitarian assistance,
integrating risk factors such as climate change into
programming, and strengthening systems that can anticipate
as well as absorb shocks in the event of disasters.

Definition Examples Examples of
impacts related to
education
Natural hazard Severe weather, Individual: Death or
- A natural hurricane, injury of children,
process or earthquake and youth, and teachers.
phenomenon aftershock, Psychological stress
that may cause typhoon, flooding, or trauma of
loss of life, fire, droughts, children, youth, and
injury or other windstorms, Teachers. Students
health impacts, volcanic eruption, missing exams, not
property landslides, storms, receiving credits or
damage, loss of cyclones certificates. Loss of
livelihoods and instructional time.
services, social School community:
and economic Displacement of
disruption, or school community,
environmental Loss of family and
damage. social support
network, Damage or
destruction of
school or route to
school, Increased
vulnerability to
other hazards,
shocks and stresses,
Break in continuity
of education system,
Disruption of
payroll, teacher
training, or
inspections, Loss of
administrative data
and records,
Increased costs for
reconstruction,
retrofitting, or
provision of
alternative learning
environments
Climate change Increase in natural Individual:
- A change of hazards, Loss of Displacement of
climate that is biodiversity, children and youth,
attributed Changes in e.g., due to coastal
directly or ecosystem, Spread inundation, Decline
indirectly to of climate-sensitive in food security
human activity, disease, means children and
which alters the Temperature youth are not ready
composition of increases, Changes to learn, Increased
the global in rainfall, disease reduces
atmosphere and Desertification, attendance and
is in addition to Coastal inundation, possibly enrolment
natural climate Melting glaciers, School community:
variability Shorter growing Loss of livelihoods
observed over seasons pulls children and
comparable youth from school to
time periods. work or causes
displacement,
Destruction of
learning
environment or
route to school,
Scarcity of natural
resources triggers
violent conflict,
resulting in school
closure or use as
base or barracks
System: Increased
costs for retrofitting
or moving schools
from affected areas
(e.g., coastal)
Biological hazard Ebola, Avian Flu, Individual:
- A process or MERS Increased disease
phenomenon of coronavirus, reduces attendance
organic origin or SARS, Non- and possibly
conveyed by communicable enrolment,
biological vectors, diseases, such as Malnourished and
including malaria and sick children are not
exposure to dengue, Hunger ready to learn,
pathogenic micro- and Children and youth
organisms, toxins, malnutrition, drop out, teachers
and bioactive Worms, diarrhea, are absent to care
substances that cholera, for sick family
may cause loss of Dehydration member
life, injury, illness, School community:
or other health Parents fear sending
impacts, property their children to
damage, loss of school, ill suffer
livelihoods and psychosocial trauma
services, social from stigmatization
and economic and exclusion,
disruption, or schools are used as
environmental clinics or morgues
damage. and thus
contaminated or
stigmatized,
uncontaminated
schools are
overwhelmed by
increased demand
System: Disruption
of government
capacity to manage
system (payment,
oversight, support)
Violent Terrorist attacks, Individual: Injury
conflict: violent civil and death to
Violent conflict demonstration, teachers, children,
occurs when armed conflict and youth,
two or more between state psychosocial harm
parties believe and/or non-state making it difficult
that their actors, inter-group to teach and to
interests are violence, violent learn, prohibition of
incompatible attacks, killings, access to exams,
and take rape and other certificates,
violent action sexual violence as a displacement of
that damages weapon of war, students from
other parties‘ attacks against school catchment
ability to schools and area
pursue their education School community:
interests personnel, Destruction or
abduction, damage to school
recruitment into buildings and
armed forces routes to them,
schools caught in
the crossfire,
overcrowding of
surviving schools,
disruption of school
activities, disruption
of household
livelihoods causing
dropouts
System:
Politicization of
schools,
humanitarian access
blocked, diversion
of funds from
education to
address conflict,
destruction of
administrative
systems or school
records,
perpetuation of
grievances due to
inequitable access
to quality education
School-related In or on the way to Individual: Injury
gender based school: rape, bullying, or death of
violence: attacks, abduction, teachers, children,
School-related femicide, and youth,
gender-based transactional sex, Psychological and
violence pedagogy biased emotional trauma,
(SRGBV) is towards one gender, Diminished
defined as acts touching, groping, educational
or threats of molestation, insults, achievement,
sexual, humiliation, Lower enrolment,
physical, or harassment, corporal persistence, and
psychological punishment, participation
violence psychological, rates, Lowered
occurring in physical, emotional self-esteem, self-
and around abuse, systemic, efficacy26 of
schools, structural exclusion, children, youth, or
perpetrated as violence, teachers, Sexually
a result of marginalization, transmitted
gender norms textbooks with diseases, Higher
and discriminatory rates of
stereotypes, messages about absenteeism,
and enforced by women and men, Expulsion (e.g., in
unequal power preference for cases of
dynamics. sending one gender pregnancy), Early
to school over marriage causing
another, violence drop-out School
against gender and community:
sexual minorities Fewer mothers
with literacy
skills, Increased
maternal and
child mortality
rates, Lower
household earning
potential and
education
System: Fewer
skilled female
labourers, female
teachers in
market
Economic Disruption of Individual: Students
shock: terms of trade, pulled from school to
Economic Global financial work, Lack of food means
shock is an crisis, Food and oil students come to school
unexpected price volatility, hungry and are more
event that Financial vulnerable to illness
affects the institution School community:
economy. interruption, Reduction in livelihoods
Unemployment, resulting in parents‘
Underemployment, inability to pay direct or
Unequal access to indirect school fees,
productive assets Increase in teacher
absenteeism, Hiring
freezes, layoffs, reduced
salaries, Closure,
merging, or
reorganization of schools,
Increase in parent stress,
depression, household
abuse
System: Reduction in tax
base for investment in
education, Reduction in
education achievement
UNICEF: Sample of hazards, shocks, and stresses that impact
education
Hazard assessment in the school

Risk assessment is a term used widely for a systematic
approach to characterizing the risks posed to individuals and
populations by potentially adverse exposures. Disaster risk is
dynamic and evolving, requiring systematic monitoring in
order to be able to adapt risk management policies to the
changing situation. Regular assessments of disaster risks,
capabilities to manage them and sharing risk information are
important aspects of the disaster risk management in schools.
Disaster management aims at motivating societies at risk to be
more involved in the conscious management of risk and
reduction of vulnerability in our various communities. As a
cross cutting issue, it demands substantial commitment from

public authorities/Civil society and a greater inter-sectoral and
policy coordination at all levels.
In 2008, UNISDR shared Disaster Prevention for Schools
Guidance for Education Sector Decision Makers. This document
differentiated the various physical, educational, economic and
psychosocial impacts that disasters have on the education
sector. It identified three goals of a comprehensive school
disaster prevention programme:
1. To save lives and prevent injuries
2. To prevent interruption of education due to recurring

natural hazards
3. To develop a resilient citizenry able to reduce the social,

economic and cultural impacts of recurring hazards.
4. To safeguard investments in school infrastructure
A Framework for Comprehensive School Safety from

Disasters
This framework contains three overlapping areas of focus.
Each of these involves a significantly different (though
sometimes overlapping) set of decision-makers, developers,
stakeholders and implementers as well as indicators, activities
and actors responsible for implementation. Enveloping these
three pillars are education policies and plans at the
government level, ideally undertaking systematic analysis of
threats to school and system safety and developing policy and
plans that address each of these three areas:
1. Safe School Facilities: This includes: building codes and
standards, safe site selection, hazards and vulnerability
assessment, standard disaster-resilient designs,
construction trades training and supervision for code
compliance, capacity development, funding and
procedures for maintenance, verification, inspection and
certification, retro-fitting of education infrastructure,
both public or private, procedures and safeguards for
structural alterations, remodeling, conversion and
repairs, assuring safe access to facilities including road,
bridge, transport conditions, access for people with
different functional needs and finally safety from violent
attack.
2. School Disaster Management: This includes: system,

policies, guidelines and standard operating procedures,
school-based safety committee, school based risk
reduction and safety plans adapted from guidelines,
school disaster drills, school continuity planning, staff
capacity development
3. Disaster Prevention and Risk Reduction Education in

Schools: This includes: holistic infusion of disaster
prevention and risk reduction education into formal
school curricula to develop both knowledge and practical
experience, expansion of regular extra-curricular disaster
risk reduction activities to increase school and local

community resilience, capacity development of teaching
staff and teacher training college faculty.
Typology of Assessments for Disaster Risks to Schools

1. Macro hazards assessment is typically the domain of the
much broader national. They include meteorological,
geophysical, hydrological and other assessments of natural
and climatic processes as well as the vulnerability of human
settlements and environment. Education sector authorities
need to be educated consumers of this regional and local
information, and partners in linking this specifically to both
safety of school sites and facilities as well as the routes to
access them.
2. Education sector diagnosis is recommended as a foundation
for all humanitarian and development interventions in the
education sector. This provides the essential background for
understanding the system in place and for how to work
effectively within it. Guidance Note for Educational Planners:
Integrating conflict and disaster risk reduction into education
sector planning from UNESCO IIEP/ UNICEF. It involved:
context analysis (which should include hazards and
vulnerability at the macro level), historical review of disasters
and emergencies affecting the education sector, performance
of the education system in relation to the risks and the
management and policy environment.
3. Geo-spatial inventory of schools is comprehensive school-
mapping, as the foundation for an Education Management
Information Systems (EMIS). It is typically the most significant
missing piece required for progressing to scale. Without it,
school authorities are not able to process the data needed for
rational planning, resource allocation and monitoring. To plan
for mitigation and response, education authorities need to
handle school data such as location, name, contact
information, school type, school occupancy (all demographics),
school calendar, and key school facilities and school disaster
management data. Hazard exposure and vulnerability to
conflict must also be recorded. In large jurisdictions with
hundreds or thousands of schools Education Cluster partners
find it next to impossible to consolidate data on damaged
school infrastructure and therefore to thoroughly assess
education sector needs. This in turn makes it impossible to
progress from general to rational and specific plans for school
reconstruction and implementation of educational continuity
plans.
4. National or Sub-national Assessment of Vulnerability of
School Infrastructure describes a top-down, low-cost, triage
assessments to identify only the most vulnerable schools for
the more labor-intensive on-site technical assessment. In those
places where a program of school structural safety (retrofit
and replacement) is currently underway, this strategy provides
critical information to narrow the field of focus. It is
conducted by education authorities and/or public works
agencies at the national or sub-national level. To be

meaningful, however, the schools must be identified and geo-
located ideally with visualization through a geo-spatial
database. Where central school construction records exist, this
‗on paper‘ assessment can identify those buildings of a certain
construction type, design, age and hazards exposure that
therefore require closer (on-site) scrutiny.
5. Non-Technical School-Site ―Sidewalk‖ Assessment is a
―bottom-up‖ approach to low-cost triage. Ideally, it is used to
supplement the information from the ―top-down‖ approach
described above. Where no such systematic data exists, this
may be the primary source of triage assessment. This requires
a simple approach that can be implemented by non-technical
staff on site, or with support of easily identifiable local
technical support. Risk RED‘s 1-page, Principal‘s School
Building Safety Checklist on the next page, is an example of
this.
School Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment are
participatory assessment strategies typically promoted at the
local community or school-site level. These have traditionally
been designed primarily for local sensitization and local
decision making. There have been occasional efforts to expand
these tools to guidance tools specifically to reduce disaster
risks in school facilities are currently superficial in these tools.
Most of these processes have typically not been linked to
broader decision-making and support processes by education
authorities. We must be developing a broader-based child-led

Child Friendly Schools Assessment. All of these can be
valuable for Post-Disaster Needs Assessment, however, not all
collect sufficient data on school facilities safety.
6. School Site Technical Risk Assessment or Damage
Assessment is a detailed school site technical assessment
requiring professional inputs. When done prior to
construction, for the purpose of site selection decisions may
requires geotechnical and engineering expertise. When
conducted on existing schools, it is the basis for definitively
determining risks and then prioritizing schools for de-
occupancy, and retrofit, or replacement. Since immediate
school site assessment of every school is deemed impossible
from a resource perspective, the prior ‗triage‘ step, and the
fifth type described below, become essential to narrow the
focus. It is also important to note here that large schools
typically have several buildings, constructed during different
periods and with different levels of vulnerability. Retrofit and
replacement are building-specific, not site-specific. Most
authorities have found that resources will go much further if
the problems with the highest probably consequences are
addressed first, rather than tied to school-wide refurbishment.
7. Post Disaster Needs Assessments are typically conducted in
the first month following a sudden onset emergency. The UN
Inter-Agency Standing Committee‘s Global Education Cluster
guided by the Education Cluster Working Group (ECWG) is
often the main actor facilitating collection and rapid

dissemination of information to accurately define needs, map
existing resources, and identify gaps and priorities for
educational continuity. The main tool in use for this is the Join
Education Needs Assessment Toolkit, introduced in 2009 and
piloted in 2010. The purpose of these is to provide a snapshot
of education-related needs. They are not baseline studies, do
not provide background information, are not school surveys,
and do not replace existing education data from sources such
as EMIS. It recognizes that it must place greater emphasis on
the documentation and sharing of knowledge, and is working
on an Education Cluster Knowledge Management Strategy and
tools, systems and guidance for data collection and sharing.
This type of assessment typically leads to rapid recognition of
the need for postdisaster damage assessment, and sometimes
hybrid assessments are the result.
8. Cost-Benefit Analyses are traditional tools for economic
decision-making. While under-utilized in the field of school
safety, these may be of critical importance to ministries of
finance and other economic decision-makers who must relied
upon to allocate sufficient funds to implement school safety.
Core commitments to school safety from disasters
Assessment & planning - Education authorities must take
steps to develop and implement plans and policies addressing
each of the three pillars of comprehensive school safety.
Schools should be identified as part of an Education
Management Information System, including their exposure to

natural and human-caused hazards and structural
vulnerabilities. This information must be understood by both
education authorities, and school communities. School
facilities‘ vulnerability must be triaged to identify priorities for
technical on-site assessment. The most vulnerable must be
fully assessed for retrofit or replacement. Schools should
regularly reassess their vulnerabilities and capacities in
relation to new information
Safe school facilities - Every new school must be a safe
school: This mean: a) school sites are selected for safety b)
designed to meet at least ―infrastructure protection‖
performance objectives to withstand known hazards c)
constructed in compliance with building codes by construction
workers educated in disaster resilient construction and non-
structural mitigation skills and supervised by a qualified
engineer and d) school construction is used as an opportunity
for community education in disaster-resilient construction.
Legacy schools should be prioritized for replacement and
retrofit: a) assessed by a triage process b) the most vulnerable
given full technical assessment c) identified for
implementation of retrofit or replacement to meet at least a
―life-safety performance objectives‖ d) all remodeling efforts
should incorporate disaster risk mitigation. Lifeline
infrastructure and non-structural safety should be assessed
locally and measures taken to assure: safe access (roads and
bridges), clean water for drinking and hygiene, and non-

structural mitigation practices in anticipation of ground
movement, wind and water hazards. School furnishings and
equipment should be designed and installed to minimize
potential harm they might cause to school occupants.
School disaster management - Education authorities must
make continuity plans to insure that school operations
continue in case natural or human-caused hazards disrupt the
school year. This may include alternate calendar, sites,
transport or shelter, delivery methods, mutual aid and surge
capacity. An ongoing school disaster management or safety
committee must meet regularly to guide the school disaster
management process at the school level, with responsibility for
ongoing assessment of local risks and planning for disaster
risk reduction to reduce deaths and injuries, support
educational continuity and safeguard investment in school
infrastructure. Responsibility for maintenance of school
physical infrastructure and non-structural safety must be
established by school authorities with mechanisms for
financing and execution. Education authorities and schools
should have and practices, policies and procedures for
expected disasters and emergencies. These include standard
operating procedures for fire and other fast and slow onset
hazards, including a) drop and cover and drop, cover and hold
positions b) building evacuation c) site evacuation to identified
safe haven d) shelter-inplace e) lockdown, and f) safe family
reunification. School personnel should have the opportunity to

develop response skills for disasters and emergencies. These
include: a) response organization eg. Incident command
system or similar b) fire suppression c) light search and rescue
d) first aid e) student supervision and family reunification f)
logistics and g) psychosocial support. School disaster
simulation drills should be held at least annually, for each
expected hazard, to practice and improve skills and plans. In
primary schools, fire drills should be practiced four times per
year. School should have a minimum of 3-7 days of provisions
for emergencies and disasters.
Disaster risk reduction in school curricula - Disaster risk
reduction and climate change adaptation should be integrated,
holistically and taught as part of school curricula from pre-
school through secondary school. Disaster risk reduction
should be part of regular co-curricular school activities.
Consensus-based key messages for disaster risk reduction at
household and family and organizational levels should be
standardized, harmonized, and contextualized. Education
personnel should have opportunities for development of skills
and competencies, and access to materials for teaching
disaster risk reduction through formal and co-curricular
methods
Definition of Disaster Risk Management (DRM): The
systematic process of using administrative directives,
organisations, and operational skills and capacities to
implement strategies, policies and improved coping capacities

in order to lessen the adverse impacts of hazards and the
possibility of disaster (UNISDR, 2009). In the context of this
unit, the term Disaster Risk Management refers to legal,
institutional and policy frameworks and administrative
mechanisms and procedures related to the control of both risk
(ex-ante) and disasters (ex post); therefore, it also includes the
management elements. Various frameworks have been
proposed to understand the phases and process of disaster
risk management. However, we will consider only two (2) of
such frameworks in this unit.
Disaster Risk Management Framework - In this framework the
disaster risk management process (cycle) comprises the
following main elements:
Risk identification and assessment: This involves determining
and analysing the potential, origin, characteristics and
behaviour of the hazard– e.g. frequency of
occurrence/magnitude of consequences. Application of risk
reduction measures in mitigation: Planning and
implementation of structural interventions (e.g. dams, sea
defence) or non-structural measures such as disaster
legislation.
Disaster preparedness and emergency management:
Activities and measures taken in advance to ensure
effective response to the impact of a hazard, including
measures related to timely and effective warnings as well
as evacuation and emergency planning.

Recovery/Reconstruction: Decisions and actions taken in the
post-disaster phase with a view to restoring the living
conditions of the affected population.
Steps involved in conducting disaster risk assessment in the

learning environment
The starting point for reducing disaster risk lies in the
knowledge of the hazards and the physical, social, economic
and environmental vulnerabilities and of the ways in which
hazards and vulnerabilities are changing in the short and long
term, followed by action taken on the basis of that knowledge.
The process of determining the nature and extent of risk by
analyzing potential hazards and evaluating existing conditions
of vulnerability and capacity or disaster risk assessment is a
process to determine the nature and extent of such risk, by
analyzing hazards and evaluating existing conditions of
vulnerability that together could potentially harm exposed
people, property, services, livelihoods and the environment on
which they depend. In this way, informed decisions can be
made regarding steps to reduce the impacts of disasters. A
comprehensive risk assessment not only evaluates the
magnitude and likelihood of potential losses in case of a
disaster but also provides full understanding of the causes and
impact of those losses. DRA is an integral part of the decision
making process. It therefore needs to engage multi-
stakeholders from various disciplines and requires close

cooperation and collaboration of different organizations and
institutions of the target area. Steps in Risk Assessment
consist of the following steps:
Hazard Assessment: Identifies the types of hazards that have
occurred in the area in the past or can occur in the future. This
is usually the first step which then defines other steps because
for each hazard, different tools and techniques are used for
analysis and assessment. Earthquakes, for example, require
different instruments and specializations for analysis than e.g.
landslides or floods. The next steps are to find the frequency,
seasonality, magnitude, intensity, extent and causes of the
occurrence of hazards.
Vulnerability Assessment: This step is performed to
determine the elements at risk, degree of vulnerability and the
causes of the elements at risk. All elements (people, building,
resources etc) which are prone to the hazard are identified and
an inventory is prepared. Then the degree of their vulnerability
is analysed and causes of their vulnerability are determined.
Critical facility analysis is also performed by determining the
critical facilities (that play major role in daily routine life e.g.
schools, hospitals, mosques, civic centers, etc.) at risk, causes
of their vulnerabilities and analyzing historical records of
hazard occurrence in the identified facilities.
Capacity Assessment: Capacity assessment means to identify
the strengths and resources available to reduce the level of
risk, or the effects of a disaster. In this step, resources of a

community are evaluated by analyzing the available strengths
like skills, expertise, equipment, infrastructure etc. Then the
availability of these resources is evaluated to know how soon
these resources can be deployed and become available to use.
Another important step is to find out how durable and long
lasting these resources are and what is the level of their
operational integrity, thus, ability to complete tasks without
supervision.
People's perception of Risk: The process of finding out the
perceptions of heterogeneous groups in the community
regarding the disasters, hazards and risks that they are facing.
Other steps of risk assessment are identify the hazards, decide
who might be harmed and how, evaluate the risks and decide
on precautions, record your findings and implement them and
review your risk assessment and update if necessary.
Vulnerability and capacity assessment in the school

Hazard identification and safety assessment: a) Assessment
of Existing Hazards: Structural safety of the building needs to
be assessed with regard to its vulnerability from hazards
like earthquakes, cyclones, floods and fire. The school
authorities need to contact their architect! engineer or the
nearest local disaster management authority I district
administration, for guidance in getting their building
assessed. b) Identification of Potential non-structural hazards:
Frequently occurring hazards will be identified in the plan. A

period of 20-25 years can be taken into account. Based on the
hazard assessment, the members will prepare the School
Disaster Management Plan. It should include a description of
the school's location and can include details on whether the
school is located in an urban/rural, a residential or industrial
environment. Hazard assessments, both within the school
and outside the school can be carried out by students under
the guidance of a teacher, by taking a walk. The teacher can
walk the class through the designated evacuation route(s) to
the appointed reception area(s) outdoors. Students can make
mental notes of other things that may become hazardous in
the event of an earthquake, as they go along. On returning to
the classroom, discussions can be held with the students on
probable ways to reduce the hazards, and I or how they could
cope with them if it happened. The seasonality of hazards
shall also be listed so that the school and the children are well
prepared to face it. During hazard assessment the existing
coping mechanisms of the hazards identified must be
reviewed. If the mechanisms are found inadequate, necessary
measures should be incorporated while developing the
response plan at the school.
Ways of minimizing hazards in the school environment
Four parallel and complementary lines of actions can be
considered to reduce exposure to disasters and achieve a more
sustainable approach to development: community/stakeholder
participation, public policy actions, safer construction and

urban development, and development of a culture of
prevention. The components of a comprehensive disaster
preparedness strategy/elements include the following: hazard,
risk and vulnerability assessments, response mechanisms and
strategies, preparedness plans, coordination, information
management, early warning systems, resource mobilization,
public education, training & rehearsals and community-based
disaster preparedness.
Disaster awareness group – The Awareness generation team
composition are teacher covering disaster management
subject, art teacher, crafts teacher, drama teacher, music
teacher, 1-2parents (preferably working in the print/electronic
media/NGO) and student s active in the creative arts and
public speaking.
Roles and Responsibilities disaster awareness group
Pre-disaster Obtain IEC materials posters, pamphlets, simple
tips on do's and don'ts in different disasters, street plays.
Conduct awareness generation activities systematically in the
whole school, targeting different classes and also staff and
teachers. Organize innovative activities and exercises for
students and teachers on disaster management to ensure
continuing interest on the issue during normal times. The
school can organize - Art Work: Posters, bulletin boards,
exhibitions, wallpaper, cards, bookmarks, creative writing
competitions Essays, Poetry, Slogans. Organize demonstrations
on fire safety, first aid, and search and rescue through linkages

with Fire Brigade, Health officials and Civil Defence and Home
Guards. Assist in organization of the Evacuation Drills for
various hazards. Work with the warning & information
dissemination team in making students, faculty, and staff
aware about the different warning levels and the colours and
locations of flags signs that will be used.
During the disaster - Duck, cover and hold at first sign of
earthquake. Hold on to furniture legs if furniture moves. If
outside, move away from buildings. In case of other hazards,
assist the Evacuation Team in evacuation of the school
building. For a chemical hazard , assist the Warning Team
in disseminating the required safety tips to the entire school.
Post Disaster - Disseminate information on do's and don'ts so
that the situation doesn't worsen. This can be done in
coordination with the Warning and Information Dissemination
Team.

UNIT TEN
REDUCING DISASTER RISK IN SCHOOLS
Introduction
This unit is intended to expose student teachers to strategies
to reduce disaster risk in the schools and promote disaster
preparedness among the school community. This will enable
the student teacher to acquire the needed knowledge and skills
to be able to address DRR issues in their schools of practice,
thereby creating safe school environment for learners, school
staff and visitors.
Meaning and the need for safe school environment
Safe school environment: A healthy and safe physical school
environment promotes learning by ensuring the health and
safety of students and staff. The physical school environment
encompasses the school building and its contents, the land on
which the school is located, and the area surrounding it. Again,
a safe school is one where teaching and learning are not
distracted. Disruptions are minimized violence, drugs, bullying
and fear are not present, students are not discriminated
against, expectations for behavior are clearly communicated,
and consequences for infractions are consistently and fairly
applied. A healthy school environment will address a school‘s
physical condition during normal operation as well as during
renovation (e.g., ventilation, moisture, temperature, noise, and
natural and artificial lighting), and protect occupants from
physical threats (e.g., crime, violence, traffic, and injuries) and

biological and chemical agents in the air, water, or soil as well
as those purposefully brought into the school (e.g., pollution,
mold, hazardous materials, pesticides, and cleaning agents).
The essence of safe school environment is to create and
maintain a positive and safe environment that supports the
learning and development of all students; an environment
guided by the principles of respect and understanding where
the dignity of all students is recognized and protected.
Aspects of a safe school environment are good anti-bullying
policy that is practiced, school leadership (administrative) that
supports staff, students and parent, community/parental
involvement, culture of cooperation—social and emotional
skills modeled and taught, great school communication, a
safety committee made up of key stakeholders (union, public
safety officials, parents, community, students, administrators,
etc.), a safety/emergency preparedness plan in place, ongoing
evaluation and practice of the plan; and early identification
and intervention for students at risk.
Programs that improve safety for all students
Conducting safety audits of school buildings, and developing
plans to correct deficiencies (e.g., installing safety cameras and
other security measures). Creating school wide crisis plans and
Youth Violence Prevention. Implementing research-based
violence prevention curricula for all students, Hiring school
resource officers, Creating and publicizing student disciplinary
policies, Promoting good citizenship and character as part of a

plan to improve overall school climate. Selective Prevention
programs that focus on students who are at risk for disruptive,
destructive, or violent behaviors, including those with
behavioral and emotional problems, and those who are victims
of or witnesses to violence. Conducting intensive violence
prevention programs with small groups of at risk students,
teaching staff how to recognize the early warning signs of
violence. Creating district wide policies for assessment and
referring at risk families to parenting programs, training staff
and students on conflict resolution skills. Indicative Prevention
programs for students who exhibit disruptive, destructive, or
violent behavior.
Providing case management and other services for students
reentering school after leaving the juvenile justice system,
holding student courts, creating alternative programs and
schools.
The need for safe school environment or relationship
between disaster risk reduction and safe school
environment
Keeping schools safe allows children to look forward to being
in an encouraging environment that promotes social and
creative learning. When their basic safety needs aren't met,
children are at risk for not feeling comfortable at school and
may stop showing up, or they may remain on edge throughout
the day. School safety is important to protect all students and
school personnel from violence that includes assaults,

bullying, victimization, theft, classroom disorder, fights,
robbery, use of weapons, sexual attacks and violent crime.
Encouraging healthy environments safety in schools is
necessary to support the academic success of each child,
giving them the opportunity to learn and achieve in a safe and
nurturing environment. Schools need to move in the direction
of making a durable and safe condition where the children
have a sense of safety physically, mentally and emotionally.
Every child should be allowed to question and express
themselves in a non-threatening environment.
Working to create a more positive school culture may seem
like a waste of time to some school administrators who face a
host of more pressing issues at school. However, creating a
happier place for people to work and learn can help prevent
some of the more pressing issues from occurring in the first
place. In fact, some states see school climate as such an
important matter that they have included school climate. A
positive school atmosphere encourages student attendance, a
factor that helps cure many school woes. It also helps reduce
stress in teachers and students and boosts a more positive
mindset in everyone involved. Some studies even suggest that
school climate is a key factor in student achievement and
teacher retention.
Since supporting student achievement is educators' primary
goal, finding ways to improve school climate and culture
should be a top priority. A school‘s environment and the

degree to which students feel connected, accepted, and
respected heavily influences students‘ academic achievement,
mental health, and overall school success.
Prevention: Activities undertaken to avert disasters or
conflicts. Examples: carefully locate and build hazard-resistant
schools; change attitudes and behaviour through raising risk-
awareness and conflict resolution; peace education;
environmental protection. An inclusive, quality education in
itself can reduce risks of conflicts and disasters.
Mitigation: Measures undertaken to minimize the adverse
impact of potential natural and man-made hazards. Examples:
retrofit schools according to multi-hazards resistance
standards; educate learners, teachers, education personnel and
community members on hazards and risk reduction; promote
inclusive education and participation; establish a child
protection network ahead of the typhoon/flood season.
Preparedness: Activities and measures taken before and
between hazard events to warn against them and to ensure an
effective response. Examples: a functional early warning
communication mechanism; evacuation drills; skills in fire
suppression, first aid and light search and rescue; stockpiling
of food, water and educational supplies ahead of the drought/
hurricane season or worsening conflict; safe keeping of
records, teachers‘ guides and curriculum materials; a national
emergency preparedness and response plan; a provincial
contingency plan and a school safety/preparedness plan. The

above examples are given to illustrate the concepts. The
practical steps in Section III below will elaborate on actions to
be taken. As each country and community is different,
national/local ideas, adaptation, ingenuity and learning from
other experiences are essential
Sexual health risk (STIs/HIV and AIDS)

The discovery of the underlying cause of AIDS (the human
immunodeficiency virus) was discovered in 1984 by Robert
Gallo and his co-workers at the National cancer institute of the
NIH (USA) and by Luc Montagnier and his co-workers at
Pasteur institute (France). Since the discovery of the infectious
agent that causes
AIDS (in1984) HIV has spread to almost all corners of the
world and is in this present time most prevalent in sub-
Saharan Africa where AIDS is the major cause of death (WHO
2009). In this geographical area the prevalence amongst adults
is over 7%. In comparison to the world total adult HIV
prevalence which is 1.1%, 7% is very high.
HIV can be transmitted in a variety of ways, through sexual
intercourse, through intravenous drug use, from mother to
child (parental exposures), through blood transfusion and
blood products, through organ transplants and through
occupational transmission. Transmission through sexual
intercourse accounts for approximately 75% to 80% off all HIV
infections globally. In sub-Saharan Africa there exist a lot of

infectious diseases, these diseases interact with HIV. It is
estimated that 12 million individuals are affected by STDs
globally each year (Shim, 2011), and in the United States alone,
it is estimated that 19 million new infections are diagnosed
each year, with half of new infections occurring in young
people age 15 to 24. The following factors contribute to the
HIV/AIDS stigma. HIV/AIDS is a life-threatening disease.
People are afraid of contracting HIV. The disease is associated
with behaviours (such as sex between men and injecting drug
use) that are already stigmatised in many societies. People
living with HIV/AIDS are often considered responsible for
becoming infected. Religious or moral beliefs lead some people
to believe that having HIV/AIDS is the result of moral faults
(such as promiscuity or deviant sex) that deserve to be
punished.
HIV/AIDS prevention involves simultaneously tackling
individual risk-taking and contextual or societal vulnerability,
using various strategies to decrease infection rates including
(UNESCO 2005). Social marketing of condoms. Education for
groups with highest infection rates (such as sex workers).
Media coverage regarding social and cultural customs that
expose participants to heightened risk (such as wife
inheritance or circumcision ceremonies). Voluntary counselling
and testing for those who believe themselves to be infected
and school-based programmes. Most youth in sub-Saharan
Africa initiate sexual activity while still of school-going age,

whether or not they are in school. Initiating prevention
programmes in primary schools prior to sexual debut is the
most effective strategy in reducing STI rates. Schools provide
an established venue for intervention.

UNIT ELEVEN
METHODOLOGIES FOR PROMOTING DISASTER
PREPAREDNESS IN SCHOOLS
Introduction
This unit exposes student-teachers to some of the
methodologies for effective promotion of disaster risk
reduction or disaster preparedness in schools. It will equip
student-teachers with skill for disseminating the school
disaster management plan and for conducting mock drills to
improve on the disaster preparedness of the school
community.
Promoting disaster preparedness in schools
Many students spend a significant amount of time outside
their homes. They spend their days at schools, in community
programs, and at recreational facilities, which are responsible
for their temporary care until they are reunited with their
families. Schools and programs also often provide additional
services for students, including health care and meals. These
need to be considered as part of preparedness planning. For
example, schools need to determine whether they have enough
food for a lock down and that they are sufficiently prepared to
meet the health care needs of all their students for an
extended period, if evacuated, or if the power is out.1
Therefore, it is important that these locations plan for crises or
disasters and share their emergency preparedness plans with
parents and legal guardians. Emergencies can also happen
when youth are in transit between home and school or other
programs; therefore, it is important that school and youth-
serving programs include this time in their emergency plans.
Without written procedures for disaster preparedness, any
emergency response effort can falter due to variables such as
staff changes, communication failures, or misunderstandings
about staff roles and responsibilities. School disaster plans
should be in writing, easily available, practiced often, and
consistently improved. The ministry and department of
Education in Ghana emphasizes the importance of safe schools
and encourages schools and districts to conduct vulnerability
assessments and develop crisis plans. Vulnerability
assessments can help schools and districts identify risk factors
and potential areas of weakness in order to ensure that they
are adequately prepared to address potential hazards. It is
important that these assessments occur on an ongoing basis
and the data identified inform comprehensive plans for school
emergency management. Emergency management plans to
help ensure the best foundation for all school emergency
management planning efforts. There should be a
comprehensive school emergency management plan that
incorporates the four phases of school emergency
management (prevention-mitigation, preparedness, response,
and recovery), and uses an all-hazards approach. A
comprehensive plan would also be based upon the following
tenets:

1. Work from a multidisciplinary team approach, i.e.,
include school-based specialists from a variety of
disciplines, including but not limited to school nurses,
facilities, transportation, and food personnel,
administrators, educators, and family services
representatives;
2. Customize school emergency management plans based

on hazard/vulnerability assessments, and incorporate
the unique resources of the district and school as well as
its community partners;
3. Collaborate, coordinate, and communicate with

community partners (including, but not limited to law
enforcement and fire personnel, health, public and
mental health practitioners, and);
4. Integrate students and staff with disabilities and other

access and functional needs including communication;
5. Support the implementation of the National Incident

Management System and the Incident Command System;
and
6. Train and practice using both tabletop and full-scale

exercises with school and community partners on
responses to hazards facing the school based on a
hazard/vulnerability assessment specific to that school.

Just as it is important for families to practice their disaster
preparedness plans, it is also essential that schools and youth-
serving programs practice implementing their disaster
preparedness plans so that adults and youth will be more
comfortable, effective, and efficient in the event of an actual
emergency. When practicing, schools should provide realistic
and organized exercises that increase in complexity over time.
These exercises allow schools to identify potential
vulnerabilities, partners to practice effective and efficient
responses, and schools to recognize resources that might be
needed for recovery
Some common hazards and how to prevent them: dos and

don’ts of selected disasters
Fire hazards - Fire can be one of the most devastating

disasters on campus, so prevention is key.
 Overloaded power strips or outlets: phones, laptops,

lamps, TVs, hair tools and other electrical devices all
plugged in at once can cause fires. Provide information
on fire prevention in dorm welcome packets.
 Clutter: excessive clutter blocks exit routes and can catch
fire if it comes in contact with electrical or heat-
producing items such as hot hair tools and heating
systems. Residence staff should conduct room walk-
throughs each semester to spot hazards like this.

 Kitchen fires: students may not have cooked for
themselves before, may be under the influence of drugs
or alcohol, feel sleep-deprived or just have a kitchen
accident. Prepare for grease and regular fires by
providing fire extinguishers in dormitory kitchens and
installing smoke alarms.
 Problems with fire exits: each semester, check to make
sure the required number of fire exit signs are installed
and the exits are in working order.
 Problems with alarm or fire suppression systems: test
these systems each semester in every room.
Infectious diseases - an outbreak of infectious disease

decreases performance in both academics and sports, puts
students‘ futures in danger and can even damage the
university‘s reputation.
 Flu: hold a flu shot clinic on campus. Encourage students

and staff to participate using posters and a school-wide
email campaign.
 Colds, stomach virus and other illnesses: at the
beginning of each semester, send out a campus-wide
email with information on good hygiene habits that
reduce the risk of illness. Include this information in
dorm welcome packets, too. In addition, hang posters
encouraging healthy habits (e.g. hand-washing, how to
cough and sneeze properly).
 Blood-borne illnesses: recommend that all students get
vaccinated against diseases such as the different strains
of hepatitis. To boost efforts, hold a vaccination clinic on
campus. Provide information on safe sexual and injection
practices.
 Sexually-transmitted infections: provide information on
safe sex at your campus health center. Offer free sexual
barriers. Include low-cost STI screenings and tests in
health center services.
 Meningitis: require all students living in residence to get
a meningitis vaccine.
Poorly-lit areas - poorly-lit areas pose two main risks:

accidents and crime. With low visibility, students may trip on
uneven surfaces or other hazards, veer off a path, fall down
stairs or even get lost. Dark areas also make it easy for
criminals to hide, increasing the risk of robbery and assault.
To reduce risk, take these preventive actions:
 install more or better lighting on pathways, in stairwells,

in parking lots and in hallways
 encourage students to use ―the buddy system‖ when
walking on campus at night
 have security officers on call who can walk students to
their car or dorm
 assign campus police officers to patrol poorly-lit areas

 Install emergency phones or buttons around campus
with direct lines to campus police, local law enforcement.
Lab and workshop accidents - campus labs and workshops

pose unique hazards for students. Chemical burns, inhalation
of dust and noxious fumes and wounds from broken materials,
tools and equipment all call for strong preventive strategies.
To protect students from lab and workshop accidents:
 provide training on tools, equipment and materials

before they start projects
 don‘t allow students to work alone
 practice good housekeeping and cleanup, including
disposal of hazardous waste and lab coat cleaning
 require students to wear personal protective equipment
such as gloves, lab coats or aprons, safety glasses and
ear protection when appropriate
 keep inventory of tools, equipment and chemicals
 equip labs and workshops with emergency supplies (e.g.
first aid kit, eye wash station)
Weather-related hazards - common hazards related to weather

pose a risk to students all year long.
 Ice, snow and rain: plow sidewalks, pathways and roads

in a timely fashion. Use ice melt around campus to
prevent slippery walking conditions. Lay down mats on

hard floors in campus buildings and put up ―caution: wet
floor‖ signs to prevent slips and falls indoors.
 Extreme temperatures: conduct bi-annual tests of
heating and cooling systems in campus buildings. To
prepare for extreme cold, put together an emergency
store of supplies including shelf-stable food, blankets
and outerwear. In heat waves, set up stations around
campus where students can grab water and cool towels.
 Natural disasters and severe storms: create emergency
plans in your university policies and procedures for
events such as hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires,
tornadoes and winter storms.

REFERENCES
Afari, G. K. (1998). The Ghanaian constitution. An introduction.
Accra. Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
Check, W. A. (1986). Child Abuse, Prevention and Treatment
Act. New York, Chelsea House.
Children‘s Act (1998). The Rights of the Child. Accra, The
Parliament House.
Daily Guide, Monday, June 18, 2007, (Front Page Daily Graphic
Newspaper) June 7, 2007. (Back page), Accra.
Davis, A. (1996). Strategies Direction and Development of the
School. New York, Routledge.
Ghana Education Service (1994), Code of Discipline for Basic
Schools, Accra, Headquarters.
Human Capital Development and Operations, Working paper
Washington, USA. – World Bank.
Human right watch, (1999). Kenya Children Suffer Frequent
Beatings by Teachers. H.R.W. Report.
Human rights watch, (2004a). Africa: Ghana,
http/hrw.org/=Africa&c=ghana.
Human rights watch, (2004b). About H.R.W. http:/hrw.org/
about
Human Rights Watch, (2007) Sexual Violence, Rampant in
Schools. South Africa.
(HRW,March 27, 2007).
Bandura, A. (1977). Peer involvement in abuses: insight and
challenges for intervention Social learning theory.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Prantice Hall.
Bell, J. (2004). Doing your research project: A guide for first
time researchers for education and social sciences.
Berkshire UK: Open University Press. Convention on the
Rights of the Child (CRC) adopted by the General
Assembly on 20 November 1989, General Assembly
Resolution 44/25.

Donkor, F. (1996). An assessment of the learning outcomes of
environmental studies In senior schools of cape coast.
Unpublished These, University of Cape Coast
Hazler, R. J. (2000). When victims turn aggressors .
Philadelphia: Open University Press ILO Convention no.
182 concerning Worst Forms of Child labour (Worst Form
of Child Labour Convention, 1999), adopted June 17,
1999, entered into force Nov. 2000.
Lawrence, R. (1998). School crime and juvenile justice . New
York: Oxford University Press
Nansel, T., Overpeck, M., Pilla, R., Ruan, W., Simon, M., &
Scheidt, P. (2001). Bullying behavior among US youth.
Stanford: Standard University Press.
Olweus, D. (1991). Buyyly/Victim problems among
schoolchildren.
Hillsdal, N.J.: Erlbaum. Reid, S. (1994). Working with statistics.
Oxford: Polity Press.
Rigby, K. (2003). Consequences of human rights violations in
school. Can J Psychiatry, Vol. 48, Say No to Abuse, Plan
International Headquarters, UK, June 2002.
(www.cambridgeinternational.org/cambridge, 22/12/`19).
(Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 08/11/19).

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LIBERAL STUDIES

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Basic human rights principles

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Why Are Human Rights Important?

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Concepts of Gender and Inclusion

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Gender roles are shaped by the different social and cultural

Gender relations are the ways in which a society defines

Gender-based Violence (GBV): is an umbrella term for any

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Gender equity is the process of being fair to women and men.

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Women’s Empowerment involves awareness-raising, building

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Gender Transformative: Social norms that limit women‘s and

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Conditions for successful human rights education, including

Common human right abuses in the school

1. Strike actions by teachers, which lead to reduction of

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Effects of These Violations on Children’s Education

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Any discussion of inclusion should always pay attention to the

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Healthy sexual lifestyle (age-appropriate sex education to

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During adolescence, physical changes happen at an increased

 Honor the sacred aspect of sexual union

 Understand that sexual energy is not separate from being

 Understand that sexual union is one way human beings

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 Take responsibility for their own bodies and their own

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