Plan’s statement on the UNESCO 2009 Education for All Global Monitoring Report
The new UNESCO report on the state of the global education system has revealed there is still a “vast gulf” separating the number of children in school in rich and poor nations.
Girls are by far the most disadvantaged with the report revealing gender enrolment gaps remain large across much of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Plan UK believes getting girls into school is at the heart of the good development model, without this no country can escape the poverty trap.
Globally about 72 million children were out of school in 2005, with girls accounting for 57% of this number. Progress may have been made in recent years at the primary enrolment level but by secondary school girls remain hugely disadvantaged.
Recent UN figures reveal that only 37% of countries have achieved gender parity at the secondary level and less than 3% at the university level.
There is overwhelming evidence that education – particularly for girls – is one of the best investments in development. It can halt the spread of AIDS, increase economic growth and break the cycle of poverty.
An extra year of primary school boosts girls’ eventual wages by 10 to 20 per cent. An extra year of secondary school: 15 to 25 percent.
The obstacles to getting girls into, and crucially to remain at, school are many and often deeply culturally entrenched.
From the violence, sometimes sexual, that they face in the classroom to the lack of basic toilet facilities, girls face a daily struggle to receive an education.
In recent months world leaders have shown just what can be done when circumstances demand a robust response. If the drive and determination employed to fix a failing financial system could be employed to fix a failing education sector then perhaps all girls can obtain their rightful place in the classroom, fulfil their potential and drive their country’s economic growth.
