Keeping the promise: five benefits of girls' secondary education

Empowering girls through secondary education in Sub-Saharan Africa

By: Rihani MA, Kays L & Psaki S
Published by: Academy for Educational Development (AED), 2006
Via: Eldis

Educating girls beyond primary school empowers them in a way that primary education alone cannot. In doing so, it strengthens economies, decreases HIV/AIDS rates and builds healthier societies. As such secondary education is fundamental for development. Yet in sub-Saharan Africa, only 17 percent of girls are enrolled in secondary school.

This paper draws on a wide literature to, first, analyse the gender gaps in secondary participation across sub-Saharan Africa and discuss the multiple barriers to girls’ education, illustrating with case study examples and interviewee reports. Such barriers include not only education costs and distance, but also:

• sexual harassment of
• gender-biased curricula and teaching methods
• a culture within schools that encourages girls to accept traditional gender roles
• lack of female teachers or role models
• few fellow female students who can provide peer support

Five key benefits accruing to women and to society from girls’ education are then identified:

• social benefits: secondary education equips students with critical thinking enabling civic participation and democratic change; reducing the likelihood that they will engage in or become a victim of crime and youth violence; and reduces the risk of human trafficking by increasing economic opportunities and making children less vulnerable
• health benefits: girls’ secondary education reduces infant mortality, increases childhood immunization and nutrition, reduces children’s stunting, and lowers fertility rates and unwanted pregnancies
• HIV and AIDS: education can reduce girls’ vulnerability to HIV and AIDS
• poverty alleviation: primary and secondary education produce high returns in terms of wage growth and economic growth

Suggestions on how to increase access and improve survival and completion rates include:

• ensure girls have access to clean, safe schools, by building more schools and make sure that schools have adequate toilet facilities and that procedures are in place to protect them from sexual harassment by teachers. Participation by parents can discourage corrupt practices that increase costs for families
• develop student-centred teaching, gender equitable learning environment and teaching practices, and ensure that classes are relevant to girls. The opportunity to provide HIV/AIDS education should be seized
• increase expectations for girls’ independence and success, including expectations of a job at the end. Additional training for girls, increased numbers of female teachers, and the promotion of female role models can all contribute to this goal

(http://www.aed.org/ToolsandPublications/upload/Girls%20Ed%20Final.pdf)