Millions of girls in Africa are being denied the fundamental rights to education and a good livelihood. An outstanding figure of more than 49 million girls from primary education and 31 million girls from secondary education leave as drop outs. Without education these girls are likely to lead a life of misery and poverty. Educated girls are an asset to any society. They create a healthier and stable community but unfortunately a number of complex and wide ranging barriers become a hindrance to their existence.
Education is a basic human right recognized over 65 years ago in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but Africa is still unable to impart knowledge, skills and capabilities to millions of girls. This violation may appear to be unjust and great violation of rights, but the harsh reality is that it does exist.
Surely educating girls will improve maternal health, shall raise levels of household nutrition and shall reduce child mortality rate. So, it’s of paramount importance that the barriers to girls education get identified and all root causes be tackled. There are a number of questions that might strike our conscience. Why is it that in Africa girls are likely to be enrolled in school? Why do they have 50% chance of getting to secondary schools? Why do the girl child be on the losing end in becoming potentially powerful transformers of society? A number of barriers stand in the way of poor African girls in receiving education.
1. Cost of Education
Education is free in many countries. The topics of free education are discussed and implemented as signs of progress. But in Africa the costs associated with sending children to school is high. Poor people find it difficult to bear the costs of textbooks and uniforms. Though after 2007 in some countries like Kenya, the fee in primary schools have been abolished leading to a jump in education. The same has been with Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Ethiopia, Malawi and Mozambique. But other education reforms have failed.
2. Child Marriage
Child marriage has been the most disturbing factor, especially in the developing countries. The variables associated with it can be many. Some consider it as a safety practice from stigmas and harms. The girls end up caught in a web that sees them fall into early pregnancies, domestic violence and other complications. According to a survey by UNICEF in 2017, in Sub-Saharan Africa 4 in 10 girls get married before 18. Approximately 14 million girls get married every year before 18. Due to this drop rates go high from primary and secondary education. Various methods and platforms have been set up to end this evil.
“Girls not Brides” is one such global partnership that is working hard on it. Agenda 2063 is a African Union’s 50 year action plan for understanding and doing something about this cause. An effort is made to know as to what actually perpetuates child marriage. Is it poverty, gaps in laws and enforcement, customary practices and religious beliefs, mental mortality, health risks, halted education, sexual and domestic violence or a devastating mindset that cripples a girls’ ability to realize her existence?
These child marriages are a violation to the various African treaties like the African charter on human people’s rights on the rights of humans in Africa (the Maputo Protocol) or the African charter on human and people’s rights that addresses to eliminate all discrimination against women. More such Acts and charters are required to develop national policies and strategies to empower the girl child.
3. Poverty
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted by world leaders in 2000 had high ambitions of making education universal and empowering women but poverty had spoiled the dreams to an extent. What people thought was that educating girl children could be the best solution to reverse the trend of poverty, but it had in fact brought the fundamentalism about basic human right to education. In one of the articles on the cognitive development of girl children in Masvingo Province Zimbabwe, the impact of poverty was studied.
It reflected that continuous escalation of poverty was a big issue to scarcity of resources and it negatively impacted the girl schooling in the country. Interestingly the social progress index and human development index also show a link between poverty and low educational attainment of girls in sub- Saharan Africa. Poverty is facing girls to be away from education and governments to fail in education when infrastructure, roads, transports, networks and technology are required.
4. Cultural Norms and Expectations
There are loads of expectations on women in many parts of the world more so in Africa. They are called the weaker sex and are supposed to do household duties, take care of family, be in early marriages and bear children to keep the society going. All such cultural assumptions have prominently caused a setback to girl child education in Africa. Teenage girls are given out in marriages the moment they enter the stage of puberty. An estimation goes that by 2030 there will be 150 million child brides.
Once into marriage and pregnancy, all the dreams of a girl child disappears. They end up getting physically and mentally abused. Their religious beliefs only justify their beliefs escape from poverty, ignorance, betrothed marriages, unwanted pregnancies remain the worry of African girls. Various governments and institutions in Africa need to adopt the December 19,2011 UN Resolution that declares October 11 as the international girl child day. A continuous awareness program for people is needed.
5. Violence and Security
Violence and security issues bother almost half of women in Africa. There are numerous incidents of violence in the society. A number of UN studies show that there is a lot of violence against girl child in homes, families, schools and other institutions. A major part of violence also goes hidden due to fear and stigma and need for social acceptance. Young girls are also victims of sexual assaults in families.
In Tanzania 1 in 4 girls reported some kind of violence while traveling to and fro from school, forcing parents to make them drop out. Parents also agree in various studies done in Ethiopia that verbal insults and beatings are common types of violence against girls. Schools have failed to give a protective environment for students. Four types of psychological violence too were identified like verbal insults, degrading, threatening and name calling.
Though there have been strong awareness raising activities yet not much has changed. It’s only through education that the dominant traditional ways shall be changed. From infrastructure, to teachers, to curriculum, a good follow up, comprehensive national policy on all aspects and total awareness is needed to bring about a positive change.
Hope someday the obstacles will be wiped away and a new world order will be created for the girl child. They will then be truly educated.
