Safe Learning Environments
Better, safer schooling for every child
- English
- Tiếng Việt
Challenges
Every child and adolescent should be welcomed at school by a safe and supportive education environment.
Safe learning spaces are essential for all students to reach their full potential. No child should face stigma, discrimination, mental or physical abuse on the basis of their gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or a disability.
But for many students, going to school leaves emotional and physical scarring. Academic pressures, bullying, social stressors and violent discipline leave their mark.
One-in-five Vietnamese adolescents report mental health diseases and nearly a quarter of adolescent girls have had suicidal thoughts.
LGBTIQ+, children with disabilities and ethnic minority students are particularly exposed to bullying and marginalization. Compounded by COVID-19 pandemic disruptions, children often face these challenges alone due to stigma and limited mental health awareness.
Gender gaps are evident: evidence shows that far fewer girls excel in key science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects, which may be attributed to gender biases in teaching practices. With nearly eight million children unable to access clean water standard and sanitation at schools, girls are disproportionately and negatively impacted, especially at upper secondary level.
Climate change and the harmfulness of air pollution are increasingly impacting children’s education with reduced attendance rates, subsequent poor exam results and mental health diseases from natural disasters.
Solutions
For children and adolescents to learn, they must feel safe.
That is why UNICEF is helping to create education environments that promote gender equality, mental health wellbeing and participation for all.
"UNICEF is helping to create learning environments that promote gender equality, mental health and participation for all."
For children to learn with minds free of stress, we work with teachers and students to remove mental health diseases from school and make it okay to reach for help when needed. This includes integrating social emotional learning into pre-school to ensure children are resilient to stress now and in the future.
Our school-based approaches tackle gender-based violence, bullying, discrimination and corporal punishment. We work to empower children to influence social norms that harm vulnerable students, such as ethnic minorities, children with disabilities or those who identify as LGBTIQ+. We also develop innovative approaches to psychosocial wellbeing through clubs, sports and social media.
So girls stay in class, we contribute to ensure hygiene and sanitation facilities are available in schools, especially those in remote communities. This dovetails with promotion of menstrual health in schools, to ensure girls learn free from stigma.
Feeling safe at school also involves climate resilience. To help achieve this we promote disaster risk reduction in schools, so children identify and mitigate climate threats, and learn to proactively protect their environment from further degradation. As champions of a climate-smart education system we promote innovative sustainable energy solutions, such as solar technologies to reach 40,000 schools and 20 million school-age children, low-cost net zero toilets and rainwater capture.
You can be the change for children!
Help UNICEF provide children and families with critical essential services for health and nutrition, education and protection.
Impacts
UNICEF is striving for a future in Viet Nam where every child goes to school and thrives in a safe education environment. Achieving this means gender equality, mental health wellbeing support and participation free from stigma and discrimination is the norm – no matter a child or adolescent’s gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or disability.