INTRODUCTION
According to UNESCO, worldwide 130 million girls aged 6 to 17 are not in school. West and Central Africa have the highest rate of school exclusion, with 20% of young people aged 6 to 11 not attending school and the exclusion rate reaching 40% at the post-primary level. This situation represents a significant challenge in achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 4. This goal aims, by 2030, to ensure equal access to quality education for all, particularly a complete cycle of primary and secondary education.
In sub-Saharan Africa, several years of international and national investments in education systems have achieved a primary school attendance rate of around 75%. This rate reaches just 32% at the post-primary level. In rural areas, the secondary school completion rate reaches only 16%[1]. Significant challenges remain, particularly regarding girls’ access to and retention in post-primary education in several countries. Thus, many now recognize that universal access to education also involves access and retention of students at the post-primary level. In this context, Canada announced in January 2018 that it would double its contribution to the Global Partnership for Education to improve girls’ access to education worldwide and promote their retention in school. This represents a very significant investment worth celebrating, but it will take much work and creativity to ensure the funds will have a significant impact on those who need support the most.
The Importance of Girls’ Education
The Canadian government’s Feminist International Assistance Policy reflects the importance of equal access for girls and boys through its main action area, which aims at gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. It is through Canada’s close collaboration with central and local governments in developing countries that their capacity to develop policies and implement programs integrating gender equality will be improved. Through its second action area, human dignity, Canada also recognizes the importance of developing services accessible to vulnerable populations, particularly access to quality education, which will allow for increased prosperity of girls and women in the long term.
The problems faced by young girls in accessing and staying in school are well known: deficient infrastructure, particularly regarding latrines, inadequate teacher training to promote girls’ participation in the classroom, along with significant changes experienced by girls during adolescence, early marriages, unwanted pregnancies, and the burden of domestic work that primarily falls on girls.
One of Cowater’s main strengths in supporting the strengthening of inclusive public institutions, whose services respond to the differentiated needs of women and girls, is its ability to use evidence to improve government policies and programs so they respond to population needs, particularly girls’ needs. Since 2005, with the support of the Canadian government, Cowater has worked closely with Burkina Faso’s Ministry of National Education and Literacy (MENA) to strengthen its agents’ capacity to conduct learning assessment exercises (LAE). The evidence collected through quantitative studies conducted by MENA on learning achievements in basic education has shown that student learning varied considerably within the same class, but significant disparities existed between girls’ performance in primary and post-primary education. Given this data, it was therefore important to understand the causes of these gender-specific differences so that MENA could take necessary measures to improve girls’ results.
In 2017, through the Capacity Building Support Company project (SARC, 2013-2017), building on 10 years of Canadian investments in learning assessment in Burkina Faso, Cowater supported MENA in conducting a qualitative study on learning gaps between girls and boys. The study revealed that girls are subject to a volume of domestic work that reduces study time, and the family environment tends to favor boys’ performance. Girls also face significant pressure during puberty; teachers are poorly equipped to promote girls’ learning, and latrines are inadequate given girls’ specific needs at this age. Furthermore, it was shown that girls performed less well than boys in mathematics and science. Boys have more study time and, unlike girls, they group together to study, which gives them an advantage in mathematics and science. The lack of female role models is also a factor impacting girls’ motivation in these fields. The Burkinabe Ministry of Education now has a comprehensive study that will allow it to improve its policies and programs to respond to girls’ specific needs.
Canada, through the SARC project, has also consolidated the integration of the National Gender Policy (PNG) within a major reform undertaken by MENA in recent years: the curriculum reform. By supporting the development of the Curriculum Orientation Framework (COC), which specifically outlines official guidelines on the new foundations of basic education, the process of developing new programs and their accompanying documents, and addresses learning assessment, the country has ensured it has all the necessary tools to implement a pedagogical approach adapted to Burkina Faso’s socioeconomic evolution, which advocates inclusion and parity in education access for girls and boys.
PERSPECTIVES
Much remains to be done to help improve the quality of learning for all, boys and girls, in developing countries, as well as to ensure girls’ retention in school. It is essential that girls’ specific needs are taken into account in both teaching and infrastructure, primarily at the post-primary level. Indeed, it is between ages 12-16 that girls absorb the most essential learning for subsequently accessing economic opportunities. Moreover, keeping girls in school also allows better access to sexual and reproductive health knowledge, promoting maternal and neonatal health in the longer term.
It is by strengthening public institutions, particularly ministries of education in developing countries, that Canada can make a difference. Thus, by using evidence generated within the ministries themselves, Canada is in a privileged position to act as a leader in supporting better access to school for girls and their retention in class during a critical period of their learning.
[1] Préparé par la Section des données et de l’analyse ; Division des données, de la recherche et des politiques, UNICEF. Décembre 2017.
