Importance of Girls' Education

Education is a basic human right. More than 77 million of our world’s children are out of school, most of whom are girls, and Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest rates of primary school enrollment in the world. In 1990 this problem was addressed on an international scale. Governments and development organizations pledged to provide primary education and reduce illiteracy. Ten years later, with these goals far off, over 160 governments, UN agencies, the World Bank, policy makers, business leaders and non-governmental organizations met again, strengthened their commitment and established six important education goals and comprehensive strategies to achieve them; target date, Education for All 2015. Global actions for EFA 2015 are coordinated by UNESCO and at www.unesco.org/education you can learn more about the goals, strategies and progress of EFA 2015.

Another major development event that took place in 2000 was the establishment of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These goals address key development issues and challenges in the world today, such as poverty reduction, promoting gender equality, improving education, health and human rights, protecting the environment, promoting environmental sustainability and peace. The goals were put into practice with a declaration at the United Nations and a target date set also for 2015. For more information about the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, you can go to the United Nations Development Program website at www.undp.org/mdg

Great strides have been made in achieving EFA 2015, but without extra effort in countries with economic, political and social constraints, meeting these goals does not seem likely. There are too many barriers that prevent children, especially girls from getting quality primary education, and yet, meeting EFA directly impacts achieving the important Millennium Development Goals. The main reason such an alarming number of children are out of school is poverty; but an awareness of cultural attitudes and practices, social policies and specific developmental issues enables us to understand why barriers to education exist.

The direct costs of school - fees, uniforms and school supplies are overwhelming for a family living below the poverty line. If the family manages to combine scarce resources, it will more likely send a boy to school than a girl. Girls are needed around the home to fetch water, gather fire wood, clean, help cook or care for younger siblings. For these families it becomes an economic burden to send girls to school. Even without the expense of school fees or uniforms, some children don’t have clothes in good enough condition for them to feel comfortable in a school setting, others are too sick or weak to attend and many parents, uneducated themselves, don’t understand the benefits of school.

In many situations, schools are not close to home and it’s less safe to send girls long distances than boys, add to this the lack of “girl-friendly” schools and it's easy to understand why there are less girls attending school. Overcrowded classrooms and lack of teacher training amount to learning problems for everyone. The poor facilities of many schools create difficulties, especially for adolescent girls when there aren’t separate bathrooms. The curriculum is often irrelevant, and out-dated with few role models for girls. Discrimination in terms of lower expectations for girls prevents them from doing their best, and it’s the girls who usually do the sweeping of classrooms or courtyards, taking time away from learning. Violence, sexual abuse and rape at schools are growing concerns in many areas. Young girls, whose human rights have been violated in such ways, suffer long term consequences; still, there is little legislation and enforcement to prevent this.

Widespread early marriage and motherhood are two more important social barriers to consider. After marriage and babies, young girls are too busy with domestic work to think about school. Lack of birth registration creates constraints, not only to education but to other health and social services children need. These children, without the protection of an official identity and documents, are clear targets for exploitation and trafficking.

Natural disasters, conflict and displacement present barriers to education difficult to overcome. Save the Children estimates that there are about 43 million children out of school because of war. Girls are also forced into armed conflict and they are especially vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation. These children can be out of school for several years and generally, funds are scarce for this type of unstructured education.

National policies eliminating school fees, making schools safe and appropriate for all, increasing awareness about birth registration, are necessary steps to take. Strong school and community ties help parents understand the importance of girls’ education and education in general, thereby increasing enrollment at the appropriate age and improving attendance. Alternative schools, trade schools or education in non formal settings can reach children of different ages including the hard to reach street children. At local levels, child care centers and women’s literacy and empowerment classes with possible micro credit initiatives would benefit entire communities.