Education for all: Why is it important to educate a girl child?

Education is not only about getting her into school; it’s more about a strategic development priority, more about women empowerment, ensuring quality education, skill development, safety and finally her contribution to the society and economy as well.

Education, a powerful tool for individual freedom and socio-economic development has been recognized as a fundamental human right in a number of international conventions and proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 under Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The article 26 of the UDHR states:

• Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
• Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance, and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
• Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Despite a number of initiatives and the immense progress made over the years, the right to education has still been denied to many girls across the world.

According to a new report entitled ‘Missed Opportunities: The High Cost of Not Educating Girls’ released by the World Bank “Globally, nine in ten girls complete their primary education, but only three in four complete their lower secondary education (roughly 9 years of education). In low-income countries, less than two-thirds of girls complete their primary education, and only one in three completes lower secondary school.”

(Video Credit: The World Bank)

Currently, some 132 million girls around the world between the ages of 6 and 17 are still not in school, 75 percent of whom are adolescents. Limited educational opportunities for girls and barriers to completing 12 years of education cost countries between USD 15 trillion and USD 30 trillion in human capital wealth, the report says.

Of all the countries, Africa has the highest rates of education exclusion, especially the Sub-Saharan Africa. 

The new statistics released (the reference year 2016) by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) highlights:

• Primary school-age girls face a disadvantage in most regions, with the exception of Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe and Northern America, where boys are more likely to be out of school.
• The widest gender disparities at the primary level are observed in Central Asia, with an adjusted GPI of 1.27.
• For lower secondary out-of-school rates, the widest gender disparity is observed in Northern Africa and Western Asia, where there are 132 female adolescents out of school for every 100 male adolescents not in school

The statistics reveal that across sub-Saharan Africa one in every three children, adolescents and youth are out of school - with girls more likely to be excluded than boys. For every 100 boys of primary school age out of school, there are 123 girls denied the right to education.

Major factors responsible to keep girls out of school and learning

• Poverty
• Child marriage
• Lack of clean water, sanitation, and menstrual hygiene
• Distance of schools
• Gender disparity
• High-cost of education
• Child labor
• Safety

(Video Credit: Circle of Women)

Why is it important to educate girls?

Education is not only about getting her into school; it’s more about a strategic development priority, more about women empowerment, ensuring quality education, skill development, safety and finally her contribution to the society and economy as well.

“If you educate a man, you educate an individual. But if you educate a woman, you educate a nation”

Well, this African proverb is quite true because an educated woman has the capability to transform the entire society and nation as well if directed towards the right path.

Child marriage, one of the leading factors responsible for the lower levels of educational attainment across Africa and South Asian countries often compromises a girl’s development but the picture can be altered if given the right to education. Girls with primary and secondary education are less likely to get married at an early age. According to UNICEF data, levels of child marriage have declined at a modest rate in Sub-Saharan Africa. In West and Central Africa in particular, the region with the highest prevalence of child marriage, progress has been among the slowest in the world. Of the most recently married child brides globally, close to 1 in 3 are now in sub-Saharan Africa, compared to 25 years ago when the proportion was 1 in 7.

Narrows men and women pay gap: When given the equal right to access quality education, women actively participate in business and economic activities, which further contributes to narrow the long-standing issue of the gender pay gap. Financial independence is necessary to empower women.

Population control: According to the World Bank, educated women could contribute to reduced total fertility rates by one third in high fertility countries, and to increased contraceptive use by one fourth in those countries. It may also contribute to a reduction in global population growth by 0.3 percentage point. The reduction in population growth could generate USD 3 trillion in benefits per year, cumulative over time.

Economic contribution: No nation can progress without the equal participation of women workforce in social, political, economic and other developmental initiatives. With education, female labor force participation increases which result in faster economic growth.

Reduced poverty: Education and poverty go hand in hand with strong inter-generational effects. Women with no or little education are more likely to live in poverty, suffer domestic violence and poor healthcare. Education empowers women not only to earn their basic needs but to transform the society as well.

Better healthcare: An educated woman has greater knowledge of healthcare and can better protect themselves against HIV, trafficking, and abuse. Furthermore, they also account for better childcare, better nutrition, and a significant decrease in child mortality and maternal mortality.

“Education is a potent weapon to fight against poverty and societal evils”

(Video Credit: UNICEF)

To realize the overwhelming benefits of educating girls and women, governments and international organizations need to address the challenges girls face including societal norms and culture.

• Governments along with policymakers and stakeholders need to remove gender stereotypes from learning materials, a comprehensive and integrated framework to deal with the discrimination and disadvantages faced by women.
• Prioritizing investment in female education and abolishing the historical gender pay gap.
• Policies to address women’s employment and the reduction of child labor
• Building safe and inclusive learning environments for girls and young women.
• Enforcing laws to end child marriages, teenage pregnancies, and violence against women and girls.
• Providing funds and scholarships to financially support the weaker sections of the society.
• Promote female-oriented skill development courses to generate employment and raise incomes.
• Utilize information and communication technologies (ICT) to provide new and innovative ways such as e-schools, distance learning to transform the education system.
• Finally changing the social and cultural perspective that restrict women's participation in education and the workforce.

Now, considering the fact that in some parts of the world there are just as many boys out of school as girls, we need to shed some light on this part of the story too.

According to the recently published Global Education Monitoring Report (GEM Report), boys are at a higher risk globally of not progressing and completing their education. In Latin America and the Caribbean, for instance, for every 100 girls, 96 boys completed primary, 94 completed lower secondary, 91 completed upper secondary and only 83 were attending some form of post-secondary education, the report says. This is largely an outcome of the gender norms and cultural practices, other than poverty as a major factor that restricts boys from gaining the right to education. 

Well, whatsoever, the case may be, it is important to ensure that both girls and boys get access to quality education for achieving gender parity and contribution to the socio-economic development.

This further call for greater investment in SDG 4 which commit to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”, to help countries leverage their data to get every child in school and learning.

Education catalyzes the global efforts to meet the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) adopted at the UN General Assembly in September 2015. Although the Sustainable Development Goals have different targets and priorities, SDG 4 will surely have transformative effects on other goals.