Making A Difference By Educating Girls
Updated: Jul 23, 2022
If we want a better world - we need to Educate GIRLS . According to UNICEF, 129 million girls are out of school worldwide, including 32 million of primary school age, 30 million of lower- secondary school age, and 67 million of upper-secondary school age. If we are to make significant changes in this troubled world of ours. Every country can do one thing to make drastic changes - and that is to educate the girls. Statistics show that with 12 years of quality education, girls are less likely to be married as children and that child marriage rates could dramatically decrease by 64%. By educating girls, we can strengthen economies, reduce gender inequality, create more stable societies that allow all children to flourish.
WHEN WE INVEST IN GIRLS' EDUCATION Girls' Earnings Increase Substantially Child Marriages Decline Child Mortality Rates Fall
SECONDARY EDUCATION FOR GIRLS CAN TRANSFORM COMMUNITIES, COUNTRIES AND OUR WORLD - *MALALA Education can make a significant difference in helping to build stable communities. Education builds resilience, enabling countries to problem-solve their way out of a conflict using learned social skills and critical thinking. By doubling the percentage of students that complete secondary school, it is believed that this would halve the risk of conflict. Educating girls helps fight poverty; this is because secondary school graduates potentially earn more than children that have left school early.
BENEFITS OF EDUCATING GIRLS Preventing Child Marriage Preventing Early Pregnancy Preventing FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) Strengthening Economies with a stronger Workforce
EDUCATION HAS WIDE-RANGING HEALTH BENEFITS Uneducated girls are far more likely to have undergone Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). In addition, studies have shown that uneducated girls are far more likely to be in favour of FGM. Unlike their counterparts who have a secondary education, these girls have a very low percentage of approval for FGM. Educated girls are better prepared to protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS and HIV; they also are more informed about safe sexual practices. They are more likely to get married later and have fewer children. These girls are also more inclined to be informed about nutrition and healthcare for their families. They are also more likely to be better parents as they will pass on their knowledge to their young children and know about the benefits of inoculations and keeping their children safe.
CLIMATE CHANGE The 2005-2008 World Values Survey shows that girls' education can create more stable communities and suggest it may contribute to reducing a country's vulnerability to natural disasters. The more educated a girl is, the more likely she is to show her concern for environmental issues. A recent report from Project Drawdown found that ensuring all women can access education and health care, specifically, contraception would do about as much to slow climate change as restoring more than 230 million hectares of tropical forest, an area larger than Greenland. The UN estimates that 80 per cent of people displaced by climate change are female. With today's climate crisis, as so often the case, women’s suffering is intensified by the structural gender inequalities that dominate their lives.
SAFE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT We not only have to provide schooling for girls, but we also have to make sure that the schools are safe environments for them to learn. For example, when girls start to menstruate and do not have access to sanitary products, it is challenging for them to attend school. As a result, many of them would rather stay away, which means they miss much of their education. Schools are sometimes not safe havens for girls due to gender violence in certain countries. Getting to school safely can also be a hindrance as many girls are harassed or abused on the way to school, which leads to high dropout rates. Many schools lack water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, including separate toilets for boys and girls and a water source. Therefore, solutions have to be found where girls can safely get to and from school and flourish and learn in a secure environment.
United Nations Statistics for the 10 toughest places for girls' education: South Sudan: Almost three-quarters of girls do not even make it to primary school Central African Republic: one teacher for every 80 pupils Niger: only 17% of women between the ages of 15 and 24 are literate Afghanistan: wide gender gap, with boys more likely to be in school than girls Chad: many social and economic barriers to girls and women getting an education Mali: only 38% of girls finish primary school Guinea: the average time in education among women over 25 is less than one year Burkina Faso: only 1% of girls complete secondary school Liberia: almost two-thirds of primary-age pupils out of school Ethiopia: two in five girls are married before the age of 18 A shortage of teachers is a common problem across poorer countries. Last year, the UN said another 69 million teachers would need to be recruited worldwide by 2030 if international promises on education were to be kept.