Paba Deshapriya & Hans Billimoria, The Grassrooted Trust

I What has come to pass: 

The statistics on rape, child sexual abuse, and grave sexual abuse shared in parliament related to the first fifteen days in 2020, the online/offline furor related to a horrible incident of child sexual abuse shared on social media in February, the COVID 19 spike in incidents of domestic abuse, child cruelty and the reported gang rape of a minor led by a provincial councilor are recent and continuing examples of why we require a radical shift in approach to sexual violence perpetrated toward women and girls, and all those who are vulnerable, including boys, men and the trans community in Sri Lanka.

While immediate responses, especially to COVID 19 reality, are paramount, as cogently argued by Tegal and Galappatti, we need to also focus on long term goals to bring about generational change and transformation to the attitudes, behaviours and practices that contribute to sexual violence, including child sexual abuse and violence against women and girls.

Currently, three traditional and/or common responses to sexual violence, child sexual abuse (CSA) and violence against women and girls (VAWG) in Sri Lanka includes the following:

1. Protests by civil society organizations demanding justice for victims, and punishment of perpetrators. These protests, depending on who is organising/conducting them may also garner mainstream media coverage. This media coverage varies on the agendas and ethos of the media house. Civil society protests generally include calls for a) legal reform; the suggestion that our existing laws are insufficient to handle nuances and manifestations of CSA and VAWG, and underpin the need to fast track cases of sexual violence and domestic abuse – according to Milani Salpitikorala, pro bono lawyer and head of Child Protection Force, “in most child sexual abuse cases filed in Sri Lanka, it takes between 10-15 years from the offence committed to the time of trial.” And b) access to justice; an enabling environment for women, children and survivors/victims to report abuse and violence. Both these were encapsulated by Savitri Wijesekara, head of Women In Need, at the launch of a standard operating procedure for the Sri Lanka Police on responding to cyber sexual violence in March 2020 – “From a legal perspective we realised that we need to upgrade the laws to support victims of cybercrime violence. We also need to strengthen the Women and Children’s bureaus in the Police and punish perpetrators.”
2. Social Media Campaigns and collective online outrage have also become traditional and/or common responses to CSA and VAWG both globally, and in Sri Lanka in the last decade. For example, Create A Scene is an OXFAM Sri Lanka led campaign on sexual harassment on public transport. Given that UNFPA Sri Lanka data (2016) suggests that over 90% of women and girls experience sexual harassment on public transport, this and other online (and offline) campaigns on buses and trains are considered crucial to change mindsets of commuters; both perpetrators and bystanders. Social Media Campaigns also find coverage in the mainstream media, especially when media units of NGOs, INGOs, and multilateral agencies that run these campaigns send out well crafted press releases, or conduct on message press conferences followed by cocktails and canapés.
3. Education interventions by government and non-government actors. Both the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA), and the Department of Probation and Child Care Services conduct prevention programmes in schools and with out-of-school youth, most often accessed through the National Youth Services Council, and the affiliated Club Federation of Sri Lanka. NCPA has also set up child protection committees in schools to prevent CSA and their 2020 action plan appears commensurate to allocated resources. The child protection approach generally includes standard good touch/bad touch methodologies. Sri Lanka Police are also known to have conducted sessions on CSA and VAWG on the invitation of and/or in partnership with school/local education authorities, and other government and non-government actors. One of the most significant child protection interventions in recent times was led by non-government actor Canadian Red Cross in partnership with NCPA, Ministry of Education, PLAN Sri Lanka and local NGOs including Sarvodaya. This consortium introduced child protection approaches to all 25 districts in Sri Lanka, training over 5000 teachers, that during the project period reached over125,000 Children, and over 220,000 adults, including parents according to their 2017 project report.

II Prevailing Realities: 

Civil society protests have had limited success. In 2005 activists celebrated the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act (PDVA). Yet, the existence of the act has done little to arrest patriarchal notions that inform attitudes and behavior.

“[The] Act has proved to be weak and ineffective… one of its biggest drawbacks is its gender neutrality. That sounds rather odd ‒ gender equality is what we are fighting for, after all ‒ but if you think about it, you will see that a gender-neutral law in a patriarchal society is irrational, futile, and highly unlikely to do much good, especially since the authorities themselves (police, courts etc.) are likely to hold patriarchal values or be biased against women.”

Data from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) conducted in 2016 by the Department of Census and Statistics makes for sober reading even taking into account the reluctance of victims and survivors of violence to report in Sri Lanka.

 

The reluctance to approach law enforcement authorities is further indicative of the absence of belief in the prescribed redressal mechanisms, compounded by what are perceived to be weak punitive measures in the case of domestic violence.

“[The] PDVA does not criminalise the beating of one’s spouse; it only protects the victim by way of a Protection Order. No punishment is given to the perpetrator unless he violates the order, in which case he can be subjected to a one year jail term or a small fine ‒ which isn’t really much of a deterrent. The fact that the Protection Order is valid for only a year is yet another weakness of the Act.”

Even in the clear instances of sexual violence such as rape, justice is often interminably delayed, as indicated above by Women and Media Collective. For example, of the 289 cases of rape (those over 16) recorded in 2019, none have resulted in conviction and a total of 278 are still pending, as per the Grave Crimes Abstract of Sri Lanka Police. This is not so much an indictment of the police force, but rather the existing criminal justice system that requires the reform civil society actors have been continually advocating for, in what must feel like a futile process.

This lack of belief in any meaningful redressal, coupled with perceived emotional stress, extends to reporting of sexual harassment in the workplace and on public transport, where data shows only 4% of women and girls stated they have reported incidents of sexual harassment on buses and trains (UNFPA 2016) despite violations being near ubiquitous.

 “The location of this offence [sexual harassment] in the criminal jurisdiction also means that, any person who suffers any sexual harassment at the workplace must complain to the Police of the commission of the offence, and it is upon further investigation by the Police that litigation may be instituted by the Police against the alleged perpetrator in the Magistrates’ Court (the court of first instance in criminal jurisdiction in Sri Lanka). The victim cannot file action independently under the Penal Code against either the perpetrator or the employer (if the offence is alleged to have taken place at work). The Police (the State) must thereafter prove establish the case against the alleged perpetrator by the highest standard of proof, that is evidence beyond reasonable doubt. This process of criminalization and high standard of proof, coupled with the need to make the complaint to the Police, probably explains the findings of other researchers (Hancock 2005) that a worker experiencing sexual harassment is unlikely to report such harassment, and is more likely to adopt a strategy of avoidance by leaving his/her employment if the harassment is experienced at work, or ignore it if it is in any other sphere such as public transport. While the Police Emergency Hotline number (119) can be used to complain of sexual harassment in any place, there is little reported use of such mechanisms and the crime data reported by the Police does not contain information of cases initiated for this offence (if any).”- Gap Analysis of Sri Lankan Law In Relation To the Convention Concerning the Elimination of Violence and Harassment in the World of Work (C 190) – National Union of Seafarers Sri Lanka, August, 2019

Social media campaigns often target adults and older adolescents i.e. those who have access to the internet (Sri Lanka has acheived 47% internet penetration with 6.4 million social media users as of January 2020). Campaigns have long been used to transfer knowledge and information. Multinational entities track the success of a campaign by sales. For example, in a space of 10 years – 1988 to 1998 – NIKE sales went from 800 million to over 9 billion. Success was attributed to the slogan JUST DO IT. There is however no significant data available on the efficacy of campaigns that attempt to change attitudes and behaviour related to sexual violence. Numerical indicators of VIEWS, LIKES and SHARES tell us little of whether mindsets have collectively evolved as per campaign goals and objectives. Research on public health approaches related to tobacco and alcohol behanviour change communication suggests that results are tempered by the availability of conflicting information.

“During the late 1990s, several tobacco companies began to broadcast mass media campaigns internationally to advocate that young people should not smoke. Studies of forced (non-incidental) exposure, in which young people had to watch then recall and appraise advertisements, have concluded that these messages were appraised poorly by the target audience. The Philip Morris tobacco company in the USA also broadcast campaigns encouraging parents to talk with their children about tobacco use. Population-based studies found high exposure to the industry’s youth-directed campaign was associated with strengthening intention to smoke in the future, whereas high exposure to the parent-directed campaigns strengthened intentions to smoke in the future, lowered perception of harm from smoking, and increased the risk of current smoking behaviour.

Misuse of alcohol contributes to around 4% of the global burden of ill health and premature death, principally from alcohol-use disorders, cancer, cardiovascular disease, liver cirrhosis, and injury. With the exception of mass media campaigns to reduce drink driving, campaigns to lessen alcohol intake have had little success. Most have been targeted towards young people, but the potential effects have generally been overshadowed by widespread unrestricted alcohol marketing strategies and the view of drinking as a social norm.” – Use of mass media campaigns to change health behaviour

Furthermore, social media algorithms generally dictate that the likeminded – pun intended – share with the likeminded. Unless campaigns are well funded and sponsored online they don’t necessarily break through to those who hold contrary views to the likeminded.

We’d also argue the existence of discriminatory laws and practices contribute to the general apathy toward campaigns – online and off –  that seek to challenge the patriarchal/sexist status quo.  For example, Sri Lanka’s marital rape law does not criminalize rape of a wife by her husband unless the husband and wife are judicially separated at the time.

“In the Sri Lankan context, the reality is that sex in itself is a taboo subject and rape within a marriage is regarded as a domestic or private matter in the legal system. The victimized woman takes her cue from the legal and social climate and opts to suffer in silence. A variety of reasons prevent such women from addressing this issue – social stigma, fear, shame, community and family disapproval, fear of losing children, negative attitudes and possible harassment at the hands of the police.”

Challenging and transforming existing patriarchal norms and mores that contribute to sexual violence in Sri Lanka, with making knowledge and information available to adolescents and adults through online and offline campaigns, will not suffice alone.

Education as prevention, in terms of sexual violence has been repeatedly touted as essential for the general wellbeing of children and young people at least since 1994, when the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) took place in Cairo. The 20^th Anniversary edition of the ICPD declaration in 2014 specifically states the following:

“Special efforts should be made to emphasize men’s shared responsibility and promote their active involvement in responsible parenthood, sexual and reproductive behaviour, including family planning; prenatal, maternal and child health; prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV; prevention of unwanted and high-risk pregnancies; shared control and contribution to family income, children’s education, health and nutrition; and recognition and promotion of the equal value of children of both sexes. Male responsibilities in family life must be included in the education of children from the earliest ages. Special emphasis should be placed on the prevention of violence against women and children.”

The need to focus on male responsibility is also the reality in Sri Lanka. The landmark 2013 CARE study, Broadening gender: Why masculinities matter – Attitudes, practices, and gender-based violence in four districts in Sri Lanka was a stark reminder of how far Sri Lanka has to still journey to address patriarchal notions that contribute to sexual violence.

It is a common fallacy that damaging patriarchal notions are limited to men and boys. In fact, figure 4.7 below is a clear illustration at how any education intervention must target both boys and girls, and adolescents of both sexes if these damaging notions are to be arrested and reversed in the future.

 

 

 

Furthermore, as Figure 4.6 shows, the primary motivation for men to perpetrate sexual violence is sexual entitlement; a notion that young boys and men learn early from our prevalent asking-for-it culture that consistently blames the victim for sexual violence.

 

The need is therefore for education interventions that focuses on social emotional learning (SEL).

“Social-emotional learning (SEL) is the process of developing the self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills that are vital for school, work, and life success. People with strong social-emotional skills are better able to cope with everyday challenges and benefit academically, professionally, and socially. From effective problem-solving to self-discipline, from impulse control to emotion management and more, SEL provides a foundation for positive, long-term effects on kids, adults, and communities.”

The potential role for SEL in prevention of sexual violence is also highlighted by the fact that levels of formal education appeared to have no bearing on the perpetration of sexual violence i.e. intimate partner violence (IPV).      

“The CARE study found no statistically significant variation in the rates of IPV perpetration by education level. However, rates of violence are somewhat lower in the lower education groups, dispelling the notion that poorer educated men are more violent. It is significant, however, that 35 percent of men who reported perpetration of IPV, and 9 percent of men who reported perpetration of non-partner sexual violence had completed tertiary education. This resonates with a 2006 study of undergraduate male medical students that found that 33 percent of respondents justified wife-beating, 63 percent stated that women bore the larger proportion of blame for violence against them and 23 percent stated that occasional violence by a husband against his wife could help maintain their marriage (Jayatilleke, et al.,2010, p.93). These findings indicate the need for programming interventions in schools, universities and other tertiary educational institutions towards the prevention of gender-based violence.”

Existing Health & Physical Education Syllabus  

The Health and Physical Education (HPE) syllabus developed by the National Institute of Eduation (NIE) downloadable here is regularly reviewed – 2014 (Grade 6) 2015 (Grade 11), 2016 (Grades 7), 2017 (Grade 8 & 9) – and in recent years the HPE syllabus has come to contain limited information on SEL concepts such as respect, diversity and equality.

“Working not as an individual but as a team is a significant feature of social well-being. When we work as a team, we should listen and learn to respect others’ ideas. Sometimes, we may have to work according to others’ ideas. We should always respect others. People are diverse in appearance as well as in their actions and ideas. If you work cooperatively and peacefully with those diverse people, you’ll be able to live happily. It is important to work cooperatively and respectfully with the opposite gender and be united without any gender difference. A good concept that can be used to improve social well-being is not treating others in a way we don’t like to be treated.”  Grade 6 – Let us lead a happy and healthy life

“You should also treat all students equally. You should learn to love and respect all friends, teachers and other supporting staff in your school.” Grade 8 – Let us make our school environment healthy.

SEL elements of healthy relationships such as productive communication, empathy, kindness, equality, self-esteem, fairness, honesty, and patience are discussed repeatedly in most lessons and further reinforced in grades 6 through 9 when HPE is a compulsory subject.

Information on sex and reproduction however has no information on how to respect and value each other in a sexual relationship. There is no discussion on sex as pleasure; sex is limited to the act of reproduction within marriage. The abstinence focus of the syllabus is understood, and is culturally appropriate, yet in discussing faithfulness to one partner, which is also culturally appropriate, SEL concepts of respect and consent will help prevent instances of sexual violence that have been exacerbated in recent years with the conflagration of violent pornography, and the unprecedented and unfettered access our young people have to porn, leading to the misconception that porn = sex.

To echo the UNESCO Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education:

“Many young people approach adulthood faced with conflicting, negative and confusing messages about sexuality that are often exacerbated by embarrassment and silence from adults, including parents and teachers. In many societies, attitudes and laws discourage public discussion of sexuality and sexual behaviour, and social norms may perpetuate harmful conditions, for example gender inequality in relation to sexual relationships, family planning and modern contraceptive use.”

One key challenge in terms of prevention of sexual violence however is not necessarily the just the limited SEL focused information in the text books and corresponding teachers guide, but rather the skills and attitudes of assigned HPE teachers. With the marrying of Health and Physical Education, PE teachers have been expected to teach health education and vice versa. PE teachers often lack the training and requisite skills to do so. Students have indicated that lessons on sex and reproduction have been avoided and/or skipped by teachers. A focus group discussion onducted by Grassrooted in November 2019 with male and female school leavers in Kurunegla on the challenges to HPE implementation underpinned this systematic disregard for the syllabus.

“If there is no teacher for maths we get another teacher, or the principal comes and teaches the lesson, but if the HPE teacher is absent, we’re sent to the playing field.”

“If there is a male teacher, the chances of them conducting the lesson on reproductive systems were more than if we had a female teacher. The female teachers just didn’t want to discuss anything to do with sex.”

HPE lessons are age-appropriate in design, yet this general shyness and reluctance to approach this topic sensibly in the text, even with the older grades, is doing our children a disservice at a time when a sensible fact-based approach in the classroom could help mitigate the harmful notions students have access to online. Also, the role of the principal in ensuring math is taught, coupled with the apparent apathy of parents to the completion of the HPE syllabus is telling. Would parents be as accepting of teachers that didn’t complete the maths, science, IT syllabii?

HPE generally begins in Grade 6 when students are aged eleven, as does the Civics Education syllabus that also covers limited SEL concepts framed within a discussion of rights and duties, family responsibility, relationships with neighbours, cultural diversity, and ensuring peace and harmony.

It is crucial that SEL concepts such as respect, empathy and consent within relationships necessarily begin earlier. For example, the CARE study identifies empathy as a key learning in preventing sexual violence.

“Levels of empathy, tested in regards to concern for others less fortunate, protectiveness toward others when they are being taken advantage of, sensitivity to life around them and soft-heartedness yielded results that showed that men who have higher levels of empathy are less likely to perpetrate violence against an intimate partner. Twenty-seven percent of those who were at the highest level of the empathy scale and 40 percent of those who had the lowest empathy were found to have perpetrated sexual violence — pointing to the fact that high empathy is a protective factor against intimate partner violence perpetration against women. High empathy is something that can be promoted, therefore, in advocacy around protection against VAW.”  

Education authorities may argue that the primary school (Grades 1-5) Environment Studies syllabus attempts to do just thi6s with lessons around respectful communication, appreciating others, sharing, helping others and being sensitive other’s needs including those with special needs, and kindness to animals and friends.

In 2016, the Children’s Secretariat of the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs established Early Childhood Development Standards (ECDS) on health and physical, social and emotional, cognitive, language and literacy standards. This coupled with a World Bank Early Childhood Development (ECD) Project  was set up to address the importance of the “golden period” – the first 1000 days of a child’s life.

Yet, there appears to be no clear unambiguous approach to child protection specifically relating to CSA as part of any early childhood development strategy. Neither has the stilted approach to SEL in school syllabi, at least since 2007, been able to credibly arrest incidents of child sexual abuse (CSA) nor other forms of sexual violence perpetrated against children upon review of available NCPA and Sri Lanka Police data.

[The key drawback with both sets of data is the diffiuclty in ientifying credible data on incest. NCPA incest data on incest dries up in 2011, and up to 2014 the Sri Lanla police collated incest with rape, so that the requisit column in the grave crimes abstract read Rape/Incest. Since 2015 Sri Lanka police records no incest data, and has disaggregated rape data as Rape Over 16, Rape Under 16 (without consent), and Rape Under 16 (with consent). This oxymoron of rape with consent is testament to why patriarchal notions must be challenged and transformed.]

NCPA’s 2020 action plan with its modest targets is also indicative of the need for a more comprehensive approach to prevention of child sexual abuse (CSA), and to ensure that there is a cohesive plan of action involving all stakeholders. The CARE study indicates that experiencing abuse as a child can contribute to a cycle of abuse, further underpinning the need for comprehensive prevention strategies.

“Parenting models and men’s own experience of child abuse were other variables that were considered in the analysis. Men’s experiences of trauma as children play a strong role in both the inter-generational transmission and recurrence of violence. The CARE study found that men who have experienced physical, sexual or emotional violence as children are 1.7 to 2 times more likely to perpetrate violence against intimate partners (IPV) than men who have not experienced such abuse as children. For example, 41 percent of the men who had been beaten as a child perpetrated IPV themselves in adulthood compared to only 19 percent of men who had perpetrated IPV but had not been beaten as a child. While not all boys who have experienced violence become perpetrators, studies (Straus and Gelles; Jaffe, et al. cited in Jayasinghe, Jayawardena and Perera, 2009, p.275) have shown that boys who have witnessed or suffered violence are more likely to become perpetrators of violence themselves as men. This points to the need for violence prevention programmes to focus on promoting non-violent childhood experiences.”

As indicated at the outset, the consortium of government and non-government actors led by the Canadian Red Cross and NCPA appears to have implemented one of the most successful child protection approaches to prevent CSA in Sri Lanka covering all 25 districts, training over 5000 teachers, reaching over125,000 Children, and over 220,000 adults, including parents during the project period.  A key finding from the project evaluation is the endorsement of parents and teachers.

“Parents and teachers indicate a high endorsement of the project. In particular, significant co-relations were found between project dosage and the following variables: increase in children’s sense of safety, the confidence of girls and boys to express themselves at school, knowing where to seek help for violence, and knowing that if they report violence they will be heard. Parents and teachers also indicated that children exemplify safe behaviour after participating in the project, and that the project had a positive effect on the school environment.”

The buy-in from parents and teachers belie the general conception that parents and teachers oppose CSA prevention education due to cultural conservatism. The SEL approach to child protection subverted this due to the use of an evidence based approach, which includes continued consultation with parents and teachers, helping them understand the need for and value of SEL based child protection.

Tools of the project included:

BE SAFE! RESOUCE PACKAGE: “Be safe!” is a child protection resource that is designed for children ages 5-9 years, their teachers, and their parents. It addresses physical and sexual abuse and family violence. The “Be safe!” re-source package contains multiple resources. Master trainers are trained in 4 day training then they train teachers in 2 day training. Teachers deliver the program to children and conduct awareness sessions with parents.

LESSON CARDS: Twelve lesson cards built around 4 themes: – body ownership; – safe and unsafe touches; – secrets about touching should never be kept; and – safety rules to avoid unsafe situations and access help if ever needed. The lessons are delivered using a variety of activities that are suitable for different ages.

TEN STEPS TO CREATING SAFE ENVIRONMENTS: The “ten steps to Creating safe environments” (“ten steps”) methodology helps organizations, like schools, to go through a step-by-step process to develop policies and systems to protect children from various forms of violence. The “ten steps” complements and reinforces the “Be safe!” resources. Key actions include conducting internal risk assessments, developing multi-stakeholder plans of action with school leadership and external partners, and conducting ongoing monitoring. to guide the process, a school child protection committee (SCPC) made up of children, teachers and parents was formed in each school.

Despite the clear successes of this project, the failure to continue and/or mainstream this CSA prevention education programme is indicative of how low down the list of priorities effective child protection sits. The evaluation showed that the teachers treated this as an extra-curricular activity and not as core learning to be taught during regular class periods. Teachers indicated that the programme could continue if their superiors (local education authorities) and resource support was assured.

“Many teachers reported teaching the program as an extracurricular activity, as opposed to during class time. When asked if there was anything that would motivate them to continue the program, the general response from teachers was that they would continue teaching the project messages if there was support/ follow-up from their superiors, and resource support from an outside source (i.e. the government or an NGO).”

CSA prevention and SEL based child protection cannot be limited to NGO project cycles and extra-curricular activities. The ill conceived Asia Development Bank (ADB) funded Ape Hathe Potha was similarly set up as a supplement to existing HPE syllabus, with little new information. So while that effort may have had superficial benefits including plumping up ADB’s project report on education, it had no lasting impact.

“The handbook does not provide any fresh information that is not already in the existing Health and Physical education syllabus which is mainstreamed across all schools following the national curriculum. In fact Chief Sanghanayake of the Western Province, Ruhuna University Chancellor, Ven. Dr. Akuretiye Nanda Thero who has, endorsed the book has also pointed out this fact.” 

The NCPA, Canadian Red Cross led consortium put in place a model that is replicable. If the government is serious about early childhood development, social an emotional learning, child protection ensuring the prevention of child sexual abuse and violence against women and girls and all those who are vulnerable, then models and participatory mechanisms exist that can be implemented in an age-appropriate culturally sensitive manner that will mitigate the general hysteria that stems from ignorance i.e. sex education is talking about condoms with six year olds.

III Future Possibilities:

Unless education reform takes place with a robust SEL focus, challenging patriarchal notions of entitlement and the implicit acceptance of violence, generation after generation will continue to struggle with incidents of sexual violence and child sexual abuse. The strength of a national education proramme is that students generally receive standardized information and knowledge. Over generations, parents, teachers, police officers, doctors, lawyers, Grama Niladaris, politicians would all benefit from this knowledge. It has the potential to inform attitudes and change behavior at multiple levels for all stakeholders.

In 2015 Plan International published a report – We Want to know about Good Love: Findings from a qualitative study assessing the links between comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) and violence against women and girls. The report looked at CSE approaches in the developing nations of Cambodia and Uganda. Here CSE must be understood as an approach based in social and emotional learning:

“[A] curriculum-based process of teaching and learning about the cognitive, emotional, physical and social aspects of sexuality. It aims to equip children and young people with knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that will empower them to: realize their health, well-being and dignity; develop respectful social and sexual relationships; consider how their choices affect their own well-being and that of others; and, understand and ensure the protection of their rights throughout their lives.”   

The We Want to know about Good Love report identified four pathways to change:

Pathway to Change One – More gender equitable attitudes among young people, including attitudes towards VAWG.

The causes of VAWG are complex, though commonly understood as being deeply rooted in unequal gender relations and social norms, such as harmful notions of masculinity, and rigid gender roles and stereotypes3. There is evidence that CSE can promote gender equitable attitudes – with students more likely to support equal access to education for boys and girls. Further, if curricula is rights-based and includes non-judgmental information on sexual diversities, young people have more positive attitudes regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) rights.CSE can also increase young people’s knowledge, awareness and attitudes towards VAWG – and reduce tolerance of various forms of violence including intimate partner violence (IPV), sexual violence, and child, early and forced marriage (CEFM).    

Pathway to Change Two – Improve young people’s life skills.

Evidence shows that approaches targeting young people with CSE have had positive impacts on important life skills including confidence, self-efficacy4and decision-making, with links to improved gender relations and a reduction in VAWG. In particular, CSE may empower young women and young men, and girls and boys to negotiate the terms of sexual activity, understanding the importance of consent, and learning how to resist peer pressure to engage in or accept VAWG.

Pathway to Change Three – Transform attitudes of the wider community including duty bearers.

Community integrated approaches to CSE have the potential to change social norms by influencing adults (for example, teachers and parents) and the wider social environment. In particular, targeted approaches to engaging the wider community have been key to a number of school-based approaches to tackle VAWG. Such approaches have successfully shifted social norms particularly around discussion of youth sexuality.

Pathway to Change Four – Improve reporting and response to VAWG.

Though less examined, CSE can also play a key role in providing information on and strengthening VAWG reporting and response mechanisms, through provision of information and linkages with other VAWG related organisations and services. In this way, CSE may provide a platform to address GBV in and around schools.

Evidence exists if we choose to see it. To disregard or dismiss social an emotional learning based child protection approaches that prevent child sexual abuse, and comprehensive sexuality education approaches that arrest violence against women and girls and all those who are vulnerable, is ignorant and harmful.

These are not westernized and/or immoral approaches. These forms of education in no way erode tradition and culture. In fact, structured right, they can reinforce the values we supposedly cherish – respect, empathy, trust, kindness, consent. These approaches to learning can help us value each other and our differences in a society that is replete with incidents of violence fueled by a racial and sexist weltanschauung.

Three Recommendations

1. Presidential Commission on Education kindly examine the potential for Social and Emotional Learning based approaches to Child Protection education in pre-schools, primary schools and relevant components within the national curricula, namely Health and Physical Education and Civics Education in secondary schools. Working with the Yale Centre for Emotional Intelligence is a sensible starting point. Ensure any and all approaches include not just academics, but parents and teachers in a participatory manner, giving them ownership over education reform processes. Ensure that pre-schools and other early childhood development centers, predominantly those privately owned, come under a centralized government authority in order to ensure standardized training and implementation.
2. National Institute of Education kindly reexamine approaches to teacher training with regard to existing curricula, with rigorous evaluation processes in place to ensure teachers effectively implement Environmental Studies, Civics Education and Health and Physical Education syllabi. Examine also the potential for including structured child sexual abuse interventions, replicating for example the NCPA, Canadian Red Cross led intervention that was successfully implemented in 25 districts by 2017.
3. Civil Society and Donor Community kindly look beyond project cycles, glossy illustrated reports, and interventions that provide successful numerical indicators – a one hour lecture to 500 students on sex and reproduction is not comprehensive sexuality education – to consistent advocacy for education reform, with long term generational change goals. The thousands of “workshops” we conduct with young people, adults, police, media, politicians with lofty indicators of attitudinal change, upon honest reflection, have proved too little to stem the tide of victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and sexual violence in Sri Lanka.

Listen to grassroots activists that have been part of the struggle for decades to end this cycle of violence and pain. Listen for their wisdom, their frustration, their resignation. If we act now, in thirty years we won’t have to make the same assertions.