Children?s witnessing scenes of violence in the family context incurs
numerous and diverse consequences on their health and wellbeing, including
school activities and personal achievement, their social relations and risk
of subsequent bullying behaviour or victimization at school. At the same
time, the school environment can play an important role in developing
strategies of overcoming and recovering from the traumatic experience such
as one?s exposure to domestic violence. This paper presents an overview of
the main foreign and domestic findings on the connection between violence
against children and violence against women, their mothers, the consequences
that violence in a partnership has on various aspects of childrens?
development and health, children?s strategies for overcoming and their
resilience, and institutional reactions to childrens? testimony about
instances of domestic violence. Special attention is placed on the
implications that this phenomenon has on the operation and responsibility
educational institutions to ensure a safe environment for these children
within the family and at school and to provide them with assistance and
support. This points to the importance of the relevant regulations and their
interpretations, the dilemmas that teachers and schools can face in their
application, available information and expertise, the development of close
collaboration between schools and relevant community institutions, or the
systematic and systematic nature of capacity building for teachers and
schools for attentive and the consistent application of preventive and
intervention programs.
Gender Differences in Children’s Exposure to Domestic Violence in Nigeria
