School-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) entered the international education agenda and is the object of a particular attention in sub-Saharan Africa. Among a number of international actors, a dynamics of influence on national and local actors is underway with the objective to commit the latter to address the problem of SRGBV. One of the central dimensions of this process concerns the definitional challenge : the meaning of VGMS is a priori determined by its constituent elements – violence, gender, school –, but those are multidimensional terms. Based on research in francophone Africa and more particularly in Benin, it becomes clear that the variation of the meanings of SRGBV is an obstacle for the production of reliable data and for a stronger mobilization to reduce these practices which are harmful for the victims and the other pupils.