Sexual abuse in primary and secondary schools concerns child sexual abuse occurring in educational institutions from kindergarten through secondary education.
In the United States, "roughly 290,000 students experienced some sort of physical sexual abuse by a public school employee from 1991 to 2000--a single decade, compared with the roughly five-decade period examined in the study of Catholic priests."
A federal report estimated that in the state of California, "422,000 California public-school students would be victims before graduation".
The United States Department of Education withheld $4 million USD from Chicago Public Schools "for what federal officials say is a failure to protect students from sexual abuse."
Prevention
By 1988, prevention programs and materials with regard to school sexual abuse came into vogue. Problems associated with these, however, include "emphasizing a simple solution to a complex social problem and contributing to victim blaming."
Despite the prevalence of these prevention programs and materials, multiple studies have demonstrated that "teachers use programs spasmodically and selectively, omitting the essential concepts relating to children's rights".