Act now to keep girls in school
Freetown, 20th October 2009: The Ministry of Education, Youths and Sports in collaboration with UNICEF and other development partners, is marking the Girls Education Week from the 20th to 26th October 2009. The theme for this year’s commemoration is: Act now to keep girls in school.
Without accelerated action to get more girls into school over the next few years, global action to reduce poverty and improve the human condition would be undermined. Lack of education impedes young mothers’ ability to provide care for their children.
In Sierra Leone, the rate of under-five mortality for children born to mothers without any education is 279 per 1,000 live births compared to 164 per 1,000 live births for those born to mothers with secondary education. This year’s commemoration does not only focus on the scaling up of girls education through access but also ensuring that girls complete their school.
An estimated 64 per cent of children of primary school age are currently enrolled in schools in the country. Sadly however, though attendance rates for boys and girls are almost equal at the primary education level, girls’ dropout rate is high at the secondary level and attendance rate is only 19 per cent.
Some of the factors responsible for the low rate of girls’ enrolment and school completion are: poverty, child marriage, teenage pregnancy, lack of infrastructure and teaching/learning materials, sexual abuse and exploitation, as well as cultural and religious biases.
“We should all take collective action to keep girls in school for a productive society”, said Mahimbo Mdoe, UNICEF Representative in Sierra Leone. “Experience shows that when girls are empowered through education, the family becomes very productive”.
The high rate of teenage pregnancy both in primary and secondary schools has had a disconcerting effect for many families. For poor families who send their daughters to school, the untimely pregnancy of a school going daughter prevents younger ones from accessing school.
At the community level, UNICEF is addressing the issues of gender-based violence, teenage pregnancy and child marriage through awareness raising and training of communities and stakeholders and supporting the development of by-laws at chiefdom level.
To ensure that girls go to and stay in schools, UNICEF also works closely with the Government of Sierra Leone and development partners to ensure the full and speedy implementation of the Education Sector Plan. In particular, UNICEF supports the efforts of the Ministry of Education, Youths and Sports to provide access to primary education create retention and foster completion and high performance of pupils, especially girls.
The Government plays a predominant role in ensuring quality education for girls. This is evidenced by the provision of free primary school education for both boys and girls and provision of uniforms and teaching and learning materials for girls in secondary school, to name a few.
According to Dr Minkailu Bah, Minister of Education, Youths and Sports, “girls’ education is not just about providing quality education and narrowing the enrollment gap between girls and boys but also narrowing the completion rate gaps at all levels of the educational ladder”.
One of the highlights of this year’s commemoration will be a special awards ceremony in recognition of girls who have stayed in school and have excelled in their academics. This ceremony will be conducted during the week in all 13 districts nationwide.
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