Although school violence is prevalent in most schools, the experiences of male and female students differ significantly. The aim of this paper is to explore how female learners experience school violence and the extent to which gendered violence can be minimised in schools. An education environment that is encouraging and warm enables learning and learners to thrive. UNESCO (2023) estimates that about 246 million children and adolescents encounter school violence or bullying every year. According to UNESCO’s conceptual framework of school violence, school violence can be categorised as; physical violence (fights, physical attacks, destroying property and corporal punishment); Sexual violence (sexual harassment, unwanted sexual advances and touching, rape, and attempted rape, sharing of sexualised images and texts and sexual comments and jokes) and psychological violence (bullying, verbal abuse, coercion, social exclusion, and emotional abuse). The three categories of school violence are prevalent in most schools. The common causes of violence include gender discrimination, sexism, competition for resources, intolerance to cultural diversity. Classmates, teachers, family members and prefects have been identified as the main perpetrators of the vice. School violence in general and gender related violence in particular has serious implications for learners, parents, schools, and the community at large. Victims suffer from loss of concentration; poor academic performance; bunking of classes; mental health and depression, teenage pregnancy, irregular school attendance and absenteeism and sexually transmitted infections. Gender inequality is also exacerbated especially in cases where Gender Based Violence (GBV), femicide and sexual discrimination are prevalent. Extreme cases of school violence can lead to bodily harm and loss of innocent learners. Due to the fluidity of school violence, the paper utilises multiple theories to explore gendered violence. The Capabilities Approach (CA) provides a solid framework for understanding how violence in schools infringes upon learners' rights to reach their full potential. Violence is linked to biological and environmental factors with biological factors impacting internal and external controls. The paper suggests introducing peace keeping and building mechanism to contain gendered violence. Peace making advocates for zero tolerance to violence in schools. Peace building looks at proactive measures such as cooperative problem solving between teachers and learners. Practicing the ideals of Ubuntu is reminiscent of communalism, and ethics of care for one another. It is my view that if Ubuntu- (I am Because We Are) was to be at the centre of the education project, it is probable that the scourge of gendered school violence will be experienced minimally. It is concerned with identifying transformative mechanisms of addressing school violence such as dialoguing and mediation as forms of restorative justice. Finally, adopting a gender framework that encapsulates a gender discussive lens will be a useful tool of identifying and dealing with gendered school violence.

Keywords: Gendered violence, academic achievement, participation, gender norms.