Experiences of gender-based violence among adolescent schoolgirls in India

Abstract

This study examines the experience of violence among adolescent schoolgirls from selected institutions in the Hazaribag district of Jharkhand, India. It maps the nature and extent of such incidents and examines how such violence affects a person's physical, emotional, and psychological health from a sociological perspective, considering factors such as how differently it affects students from different social groups, who the perpetrators are inside and outside the school, and the extent of such violence against students in private, public, or other types of schools. This descriptive and explanatory research used a mixed-methods approach to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Questionnaires, interview schedules, and informal focus group discussions were the main methods of data collection. The narrative method and SPSS software were used to analyze the qualitative and quantitative data, respectively. The study finds that female students are particularly vulnerable to school violence because of the gender factor involved, which cannot be isolated from gender-based violence. It also reveals sociological aspects, such as the means of transportation used by students, which are clearly related to their economic position, social category, etc., which play a very important role in such experiences of violence. The research contributes to the development of a gender-sensitive and violence-free educational atmosphere in which social justice education is more likely to be found.