Musa Umaru Yar’Adua, GCFR,
flagged off his National Campaign
on access, while the Federal
Minister of Education also
launched the Roadmap for the
Nigerian Education sector, which
includes accessibility, equity and
quality assurance especially for
young women.
The then UN Secretary General
Kofi Annan said that in Africa, when
families have to make a choice of
educating either a girl or a boy
child, due to limited resources, it
is always the boy that is chosen
to attend school. In Africa, many
girls are prevented from getting
the education entitled to them
because families often send their
daughters out to work at a younger
age so that they can get the
additional income they may need
to exist beyond subsistence level,
and finance education for boys.
Through a research conducted
in five different communities, I
have found that among a random
interaction with about 60 street
children on the streets of Accra,
Ghana, about 46.7% of them
attributed their inability to attain
formal education to weak financial
conditions where as 16% were
out of school as result of teenage
pregnancy. 10% dropped out of
school because of the nature and
structure of the educational system
and equally 10% were out of school
because of harsh treatments from
school authorities. Surprisingly,
3.3% simply did not believe in
education as the key to a better
life.
Another contributing factor to
the challenges of girls’ education
is the belief systems common in
African societies. Socio-cultural
beliefs have extensively influenced
parents not to even believe in girls’
education. For some societies, it
is preferable to keep their girls
home to take care of sick parents
and relatives who may be battling
with diseases such as HIV-AIDS.
According to Guttman—a UNESCO
courier journalist—customs,
poverty, fear, and violence are the
reasons why girls still account for
60% of the estimated 113 million
out-of-school children, and majority
live in sub-saharan Africa and
South Asia.
As a strong advocate for girls, here
are some of my proposed solutions
amidst the challenges:
First and foremost, it is very sad
and heartbreaking that the vast
majority of school-aged girls
in sub-Saharan Africa are not
enrolled in secondary school. This
relatively high costs of education
are acting as a major hindrance
for poorer parents. Ultimately,
if parents are empowered and
governments create enough jobs,
certainly there would be resources
available for parents to fund
education not only for their boys
but also their girls.
away from illogical socio-cultural,
customs and traditions that
have the potential of misleading
societies.
Last but not least, I recommend
that there is focus on systemic
reform with a gender lens.
Ultimately, the best approach for
helping girls get educated is to
ensure governments have strong
educational systems. Once that
enables all children to access
good schools and quality learning
opportunities, then girls can be
empowered to go to school. Good
schools must be places where
girls and boys alike are given the
opportunity to thrive and grow.
There is a need for an educational
system where good schools are
a