News - A New School Year

A New School Year

Sept. 7, 2007—The beginning of September signifies the start of a new school year for children in the United States. It also marks International Literacy Day, Sept. 8, which recognizes the need for improved literacy around the world.

Seventeen percent of the world’s population is illiterate, the majority of them women. In developing countries, the numbers increase to 16.7 percent of males and 29.6 percent of women.

Research shows that education can dramatically improve a person’s life and is a vital step in combating poverty. To this end, countries around the world promised to achieve universal primary education for all children, and focus on eradicating educational disparities for girls, when they adopted the UN Millennium Development Goals seven years ago.

Considerable progress has been made. In developing countries in 2005, 88 percent of school-aged children were enrolled compared to 80 percent in 1991.

The progress is encouraging, but the numbers of children denied an education are still high. In 2005, more than 100 million primary school-aged children were not in school, most of them girls.

Girls from the Limpopo province residential training workshop.

Girls face many barriers to receiving an education. In many cultures, education for girls is considered a luxury. Parents often do not have enough money to send their daughters to school, or consider it a bad investment since the daughter will marry and leave their family. If they are allowed to attend school, girls face obstacles to completing their education including pressures to marry early, earn an income and care for their family.

CEDPA is piloting a program in Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland to improve the educational and health outcomes of young girls by providing them with the knowledge and skills they need to stay in school.

CEDPA identified gender-based violence, the prevention of teenage pregnancy and substance abuse awareness as priority issue areas for keeping girls in school in southern Africa. With the South African Girl Child Alliance, CEDPA trained three South African organizations in addressing this content. The organizations incorporated the content into their programs, which reach over 9,000 girls each month.

In addition, CEDPA brought together South African partners with young girls from their programs in residential workshops to learn first hand the challenges girls face in their lives. The residential setting allowed the girls to openly express their views, interests and concerns in a safe space. It also allowed partner staff to strengthen their skills in facilitating youth sessions around gender-based violence and pregnancy.

Finally, CEDPA is working with partners in Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland to adapt CEDPA’s life skills curriculum, Choose a Future! Issues and Options for Adolescent Girls, to the particular situation of girls in southern Africa. The new adaptation will have 14 modules, including a new module on gender-based violence and a session based on Ubuntu, a traditional African philosophy focusing on respect and compassion for others.

Learn more about CEDPA’s work in South Africa, and Girls’ Education.

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