Girls Education
Posted by jitu1 on July 2, 2009
Girls’ Education: A World Bank Priority
The World Bank is committed to fighting poverty and helping developing countries invest in their education systems. In light of this, it has embraced the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals as its main priority and, particularly, “eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education.” The World Bank has recognized that there is no investment more effective for achieving development goals than educating girls.
The World Bank is a partner and one of many players in the international drive to improve gender equality and empower girls and women. World Bank activities focus on assisting countries’ own efforts to advance gender equality. Through its lending and non-lending activities, the Bank has helped to improve lives of girls in client countries. Since the World Conference of Education in Jomtien in 1990, the Bank’s emphasis in the area of girls’ education has increased and gender equality has been integrated as an important component of the Bank’s poverty reduction mission. The Education for All – Fast Track Initiative and the recent Education Sector Strategy Update have reinforced the World Bank’s commitment to the Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals.
How are girls doing?: Success and Challenges
Girls’ enrollments tend to go upwards. Thirty years ago, girls represented 38 percent of primary enrollments in low-income countries and boys, 62 percent. Today, the gender gap has narrowed with girls representing 48 percent and boys 52 percent of primary enrollments (OECD/UNESCO, 2005). Gross enrollment rates for girls in some low-income countries have gone from 52 percent to 94 percent over that same period. These averages, however, hide sharp differences among regions and countries.
Between 1999 and 2006, the worldwide number of children not in school declined rapidly from about 100 million to 75 million. However, girls still constitute 55% of all out-of-school children, down from 59% in 1999. Worldwide, for every 100 boys out-of-school there are 122 girls. In some countries the gender gap is much wider. For example, for every 100 boys out of school in Yemen there are 270 girls, in Iraq 316 girls, in India 426 girls, and in Benin 257 girls (UNESCO GMR, 2007). Gender differential access to school is usually caused by poverty, adverse cultural practices, schooling quality and distance to schools. However, there are some emerging challenges that reduce girls’ enrollment in primary, secondary and tertiary education. These are: HIV/AIDS, orphanhood, conflicts, emergencies and other fragile situations, gender-based violence, and information technology gender gap.
Gender disparities still remain in both primary enrollment and school completion rates. However, many low-income countries have registered improvements in primary school completion rates, with an average increase of 6 percent (from 63 percent in 1999 to 74 percent in 2006) (World Bank, EdStats, 2008). The completion rate for girls rose by 9 percentage points, from 57 percent in 1999 to 70 percent in 2006, whereas the primary school completion rates for boys increased only from 63 percent to 70 percent during the same period in low-income countries (World Bank, EdStats, 2008).
The MDG goal of gender parity in primary and secondary education by 2005 was not met in most regions; however, there is substantial cause for optimism. Most of the developing countries are on course for closing gender gap in primary enrollment by 2015 if they continue at present rates of progress in enrollment and attendance rates. In order to achieve gender equality by 2015, more attention will need to be focused on access to include provision at the secondary and tertiary education levels, retention, quality, learning outcomes and relevance of education at all levels . Strategic directions for accelerating gender equality in education also include emphasize on monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of interventions as well as their impact.
