GIRLS in Britain are subjected to “shocking” levels of sexual harassment in public and at school, a new report has revealed.

Teachers’ union NEU said the findings by women’s rights group Plan International show “systematic failures to protect and promote girls’ rights” in Britain.

The report, published yesterday, reveals that 66 per cent of girls aged between 14 and 21 have received unwanted sexual attention or harassment in the street.

Speaking to more than 1,000 girls, Plan International said it had heard “countless” stories of harassment, adding there were “too many to include in this report.”

One girl, 15-year-old Kirsty from the Scottish highlands, spoke of being regularly targeted on the street by men “wolf-whistling” and “hooting their horns.”

She said: “You think: ‘Oh, what am I doing wrong?’ and ‘Why do I deserve this’?”

“You feel the blame on yourself.”

Girls are no safer from unwanted attention at school, with 37 per cent of female students saying they had experienced sexual harassment in class.

Plan International raised concerns that schools are failing to tackle abuse and that the burden is too often placed on the victim, not the perpetrator.

NEU assistant general secretary Rosamund McNeil warned that sexism has become “normalised” in schools through “sexist stereotypes and sexist language.”

Teachers must feel “empowered” to tackle sexism, she said, but pointed out that they often lack the resources to do so as a result of government cuts and changes to the education system.

“As this report highlights, however, teachers report being overstretched and under-resourced,” Ms McNeil said.

“This points to a wider crisis in education where the government is making it harder, not easier, for schools to support [their] pupils.

“It is not giving schools and teachers the tools, time and teaching environments they need.”

Plan International UK is calling on the government to ensure girls are supported to report street harassment and also to invest in safe spaces for girls, especially in the most deprived areas.

The group’s chief executive Rose Caldwell said the report’s findings should act as a “wake-up call” to the government, which is “currently not going far enough to tackle inequality.”

She added: “If adolescent girls are feeling undervalued, unheard and under-represented in public life, we as a society are letting them down. This simply cannot continue.”