New report reveals the toughest places in the worldfor a girl to get an education
JOBURG — Nine of the top 10 countries where girls fail to get a life-changing, poverty-busting education are in Africa.
The day before International Day of the Girl, a recent report issued by The ONE Campaign disclosed that the toughest places for girls to get an education are South Sudan, followed by the Central African Republic and Niger.
The investigation conducted showed that nine of the top 10 countries where girls fail to get a life-changing, poverty-busting education are in Africa. All nine of these places are regarded as fragile states.
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This eye-opening report also conveyed that in South Sudan, 73 per cent of girls aged 6–11 is not in school and in the Central African Republic there is just one teacher for every 80 students.
“Over 130 million girls are still out of school—that’s over 130 million potential engineers, entrepreneurs, teachers and politicians whose leadership the world is missing out on. It’s a global crisis that perpetuates poverty,” explained President and CEO of The ONE Campaign, Gayle Smith.
Smith said this is not just about getting more girls into school, it is about the women they grow up to be: educated, empowered and employed.
“Across countries in Africa today millions of girls didn’t get to go to school, or walked long distances in dangerous conditions to get there, or sat in a classroom without a teacher or textbooks.”
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The index was compiled using global data on 11 factors that reflect girls’ experience of education from school completion rates, female literacy and pupil-teacher ratio. Countries including Somalia and Syria failed to make the list because there was insufficient data about girls in some countries.
Smith continued, “One of the most striking things about this index is that countries, where we know there are serious challenges, didn’t make the list because information about girls is not being collected. Educating girls starts with making sure girls count and are counted.”
In February 2018 world leaders will be asked to fund the Global Partnership for Education, an international fund that supports education in developing countries.
“In 2018 leaders have a chance to turn the corner on the girls’ education crisis – it starts with fully funding the Global Partnership for Education. This is a global crisis and it needs an emergency response,” Smith concluded.
