The Eastern Cape Department of Education's Youth & Special Programmes Directorate is hosting a series of workshops in partnership with Bambingomso, in line with the National Strategy on Gender Based Violence (GBV) and Femicide at the Mandla Makupula Education Leadership Institute in East London and other parts of the Province during the month of May.

GBV is any form of violence that is directed at a person on the basis of their gender.  It is a human rights violation and a barrier to gender equality.

Zukiswa Njotini, Senior Manager of Youth and Special Programmes, shared and explained some potential causes / contributing factors to GBV e.g:

- Gender Inequality.
- Lack of respect for the human rights of woman and girls.
- Desire for power and control on behalf of men.
- Collapse of family and community support systems.
- Ineffective laws against GBV.

There are 3 main purposes to these workshops which are:

1.  To capacitate school managers on the Department of Basic Education protocol for management and reporting of sexual abuse and harassment in schools.  According to the manual, "Dealing with Gender Based Violence & Femicide in Schools", this protocol serves to ensure a safe, caring and enabling environment for learning and teaching, both inside and outside of the classroom.
   
   
2.  Capacity building of school managers on the three Gender Based Violence Amendment Acts.  The three that were highlighted and discussed were, "Criminal and related matters amendment Act of 2021", "Criminal Law: Sexual and related matters amendment Act 2021", "Domestic Violence amendment Act 2021 (Act 14 of 2021).
   
   
3.  Capacity Building on issues relating to Gender Based Violence and Femicide in as far as they affect schools.

Busisiwe Twala, a teacher from Qhamani Senior Secondary School says, "This workshop is long overdue.  The more informed we are as teachers, the more we can help and protect our learners and even assist teachers that may be experiencing things of a similar nature."