Education has the power to transform societies. Yet, for far too many children, schools are a place of violence, fear, and neglect. All forms of violence are detrimental to learning. Violence negatively impacts children’s brain development and psychological and physical wellbeing. It has a big impact on children’s ability to learn, which limits their future potential. Violence is also a major obstacle for children attending and staying in school – which can lead to an increase in other harmful practices such as child marriage and other protection concerns. Understanding the root causes of why children are experiencing violence, not learning, and/or are out of school is essential in ensuring children are safe to learn. This session will explain the Safe to Learn initiative and approach. Doing so, it will focus on the social and behavioral drivers of violence in schools and how applying evidence-based social and behavior change interventions can tackle harmful social and gender norms and behaviors underpinning violence in, around, and beyond schools.