The goal of Universal Basic Education (UBE), as agreed to in the formulation of the Education For All Goals in 1990 and later the development of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the United Nations (UN) in 2000, is achieving universal primary and secondary education by 2015. However, one of the impediments to the successful attainment of the UBE in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is the issue of violence against girls and women (VAG/W) in schools. Addressing violence and gender issues has a significant impact on the ultimate progress and outcome on the goal of UBE because, in practice, PNG is not free from violence and its related issues of gender inequality. Therefore, this study sought to understand, ‘How School Leaders Address Violence Against Girls/Women in Schools and its Significance for the Implementation of Universal Basic Education Policy in PNG’. Its prime focus was to assess the effectiveness of school leadership in handling VAG/W in PNG schools. Some schools and their leaders in PNG have been recognised as working effectively in tackling VAG/W in schools. A secondary intention of this study was to investigate those effective practices and recommend them to other schools and for further improvements. Using interviews with adult school leaders (4) and surveys with student leaders and students (101) the research was carried out in two contextually very different schools in PNG, located in the NCD and Central provinces. Descriptive statistics, thematic analysis and content analysis was used to analyse the data. The study concluded that school leaders at the two schools were attending to issues of VAG/W in their schools and, to some extent, were effective within their specific context. Yet there were still many challenges identified that need on-going attention for achieving universal primary and secondary education and addressing VAG/W. As a result of the study I have proposed several recommendations for the schools, for education in PNG more generally and for those engaging in similar research associated with VAG/W in PNG.