Fifth grade class in Chuchoquesera, Peru
When I visited the classroom pictured above in the Peruvian highlands back in 2004, I noticed that slightly more than half of the students were girls. I remarked on this fact to the human rights activist who was giving us the tour of this Quechua-speaking indigenous community. He smiled sadly and said, “Yes, but this is fifth grade. In sixth grade, children go to a lower secondary school that is farther away. Most of the girls won’t go. It takes too long to walk there and they are needed to help at home, so the parents won’t let them go. Besides, most of them will be married soon.” Unfortunately, this is a situation that is repeated throughout the world.
In the United States, where education is both compulsory and free, we often forget that the right to education is not meaningfully available in many parts of the world – especially for girls. The UN estimates that there were more than 67 million primary school-age and 73 million lower secondary school-age children out of school worldwide in 2009. In addition, an estimated 793 million adults lack basic literacy skills. The majority of them are women.
Since then, I have visited classrooms and asked questions about girls’ access to education in countries on several continents. This is a photo I took at Buduburam Refugee Settlement in Ghana.
Kindergarten class at Buduburam Refugee Settlement, Ghana
Boys far outnumbered girls in this classroom, illustrating one of the problems for girls in accessing education. When resources are scarce, parents will often choose to spend the money on school fees for their sons rather than their daughters.
There are many good reasons to ensure access to education for girls, however. Educating girls is one of the strongest ways to improve gender equality. It is also one the best ways to promote economic growth and development.
“Investing in girls is smart,” says World Bank President, Robert Zoellick. “It is central to boosting development, breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty, and allowing girls, and then women—50 percent of the world’s population—to lead better, fairer and more productive lives.”
Ensuring equal access to education for all girls by 2015 is part of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, making this issue a major focus of work by the United Nations (for more info, check out the
UN Girls’ Education Initiative site), the
World Bank and many international non-governmental organizations. October 11, 2012 has been designated as the
International Day of the Girl Child to draw attention to the topic.
First grade class at Sankhu-Palubari Community School, Nepal
On a much smaller scale, the
Sankhu-Palubari Community School in Nepal is doing its part to encourage gender parity in education and increase literacy rates. The school works in partnership with
The Advocates for Human Rights (the non-profit where I work) to prevent child labor and improve the lives and well-being of the neediest children in this community in the Kathmandu Valley. I’ll be traveling there in January for our annual monitoring visit.
This year, the school has successfully met goals for gender parity among students in both the primary and lower secondary grades. For the 2011-2012 school year, 147 of the 283 students in pre-school through eighth grade are girls. Additionally, and perhaps more significantly, 15 of the 31 students in ninth and tenth grade are young women.
Most of the students’ families work in agriculture. They are farmers with little or no money to spare on school fees, uniforms and supplies. Many of them are from disadvantaged groups such as the Tamang. An indigenous group with their own culture and language, the Tamang students must learn Nepali as well as English when they come to school. Frequently, the adults in the family are illiterate.
How has the teaching staff managed this success at keeping girls in school? Since the school’s founding in 1999, the teachers have conducted outreach to parents and worked hard to encourage female students to attend and stay in school in spite of societal pressure to get married or enter domestic work. It took more than 10 years, but their efforts have paid off. While girls worldwide generally are less likely to access, remain in, or achieve in school, 52% of the students in K-8th grades at the Sankhu-Palubari Community School this year are girls. And a girl is at the top of the class in most of the grades at SPCS.
The impact of the school both on the individual students and on the community over the past 12 years has been profound. When I was there in March of 2011, we interviewed approximately 60% of the parents of SPCS students. It was clear to me that parents value the education that their children are receiving and, seeing the value, have ensured that the younger siblings are also enrolled in school rather than put to work. Twelve years ago, there were many students in the area out of school but now most are attending school. I could also see the physical benefits that the students derived from attending school when they stood next to their parents. Even the 5th grade girls towered over their parents, illustrating the simple cause-and-effect of adequate nutrition, wellness checkups, and not having to work in the fields from a very young age.
The Sankhu-Palubari Community School may be a small school in a remote valley, but it is a place where the human right to education is alive and well, providing a better future for these children. In particular, the effect that these girls have on their community, their country and – hopefully, the world – will be thrilling to watch.
Photo credit: Dulce Foster
This is an original post to World Moms Blog by Jennifer Prestholdt of Minnesota, USA, who is currently in Kathmandu, Nepal. Jennifer, an international human rights lawyer, can also be found on her on her blog, Human Rights Warrior and on Twitter @JPrestholdt.
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Jennifer Prestholdt is a lawyer and the Deputy Director of The Advocates for Human Rights, a volunteer-based human rights organization that works locally, nationally and internationally. Her work in human rights takes her around the world, but she spends most of her time in Minneapolis, MN, where she lives with her children (two sons and one daughter), her husband, an elderly cat and a dwarf hamster.
As Jennifer’s kids are now all in school (1st, 4th and 6th grades), she is finally finding more time to do the things that she used to love to do, especially running, writing and knitting. Jennifer loves to travel and has had the dubious distinction of having been accidentally locked in a bathroom on five continents so far. Australia and Antarctica await!
In January 2011, Jennifer made a New Year’s Resolution to start writing about her experiences in order to share with her children the lessons learned from 15 years of work in human rights. The result is her personal blog, The Human Rights Warrior. The name comes from her son Simon, who was extremely disappointed to learn that his mother is a lawyer, not a warrior.
You can find her on her blog The Human Rights Warrior or on Twitter @Jprestholdt.
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An absolutely brilliant post Jennifer. Wow. This is exactly the reason why I have been raising money to build schools in Nepal. I agree that education is the key to lifting millions of people and especially women out of poverty. Anything we can do to help counts. Thanks for sharing such a thought provoking piece. I hope the school in Nepal continues to prosper and that girls around the world shall be able to remain in school and better their lives. Sometimes we forget that education is a basic human right that has the ability to make or break us in this life. Let’s hope more girls and women can have this simple yet important right.
I agree with thirdeyemom — an absolutely BRILLIANT post!! You have this amazing ability to take us to places we’ve never been before, and you’re teaching me so much.
I hope people will read this post and SHARE it for the love of educating girls around the world! 🙂
Jen 🙂
The importance of teaching us, too! Thank you Jennifer for such an informative post on one of the most important issues facing our children around the world.
Thank you for this brilliant post Jennifer. Educating the girl child is so important and in many places in India and Nepal, the girl child is given the ‘step-child’ treatment, primarily because the culture of the place is like this – a girl gets married and goes to her in-laws(husband’s) house. She is no value to the parents. On the other hand, the son gets married and brings home the daughter-in-law. So, the son who also takes care of his parents in their old age(nursing homes are less preferred) is more important and the use of a daughter is lesser than that of a son. There are so many evils like this which target the women population on India and Nepal. yes, there are so many organisations working to imporve such things. But change is slow.
This post shows such a huge improvement in Nepal’s community school. I feel so good to read this.
Thanks everyone! I was out at the Sankhu school yesterday for their annual program. Four girls were the Masters of Ceremonies – in English. Girls took most of the awards for having the best grades! It really made me smile. These comments are making me smile, too! Jennifer
I just donated money for a program that helps educate girls in Tajikistan because they face the same problems – education stops at a certain age and they’re needed at home (or arranged in a marriage). Thanks for raising awareness.
This is the stuff that matters. My children were so interested to see the schools around the world.
Yes! I show my kids these pictures, too. I think it’s important to understand that kids can learn even without finished floors or electricity – sometimes even without walls! I’m heading back to Nepal this week and looking forward to interviewing some of the students about their experience. Stay tuned!
This is a wonderful post! I cannot wait to share it with my students; by the way, did you know that Mama Mzunga (writing from Kenya) and I met on Buduburam?
Thanks, Lady E. and WOW! I did not know that you and Mama Mzunga met on Buduburam. I’ve been there 3 times, the last in 2010. It’s a small world!