GIRLS EDUCATION MOVEMENT South Africa

IMPACTGEM has placed girls’ education on theagenda of the South African government.UNICEF was actively involved in establishingGEM in South Africa from the very start.UNICEF has developed a strong partnershipwith the National Department of Educationand has helped the department scaleup GEM to all nine of the country’s provincesby 2006.UNICEF is supporting 164 primary schoolsin Limpopo, KwaZulu Natal and the EasternCape to become ‘child friendly plus’.Many of these schools are also incorporatingGEM as part of their efforts to promotegirls’ education.GEM is seen as an effective way of respondingto the three inter-related threats togirls’ education in South Africa – genderinequality, violence in schools and the impactof HIV and AIDS.GEM encourages youth participation andempowerment. By giving children the opportunityto find solutions to problems affectingtheir lives, they become actors in the developmentof their schools, communities andnation.In a patriarchal society where girls do nothave full control over their bodies and lives,GEM is a vehicle for female empowerment.When girls acquire life skills and feelsupported by their peers and caring adults,they become confident enough to takecharge of their lives and put a stop to abuseand violence.Bringing boys on board as strategic partnersteaches both sexes that they can worktogether and not against each other to createa better South Africa for allThe Technogirls project gives girls broaderhorizons and shows them that they cansucceed in traditionally male-dominatedprofessions. To date, 34 ‘technogirls’ in theEastern Cape have been placed in miningcompanies and 20 girls will get scholarshipsto study mining.A Day in My LifeBy Fhulufhelo Jessica MamelasigidiGrade 10 student, Sandringham High School, Johannesburg‘A day in the life of a young South African girl is not an easy task at all!’I wake up to a new day - with what I hope and aspire to accomplish that day. I get out of bed and wake upmy younger brothers and sisters and try to motivate them for the day ahead. Being the eldest girl in my family,it is my duty to prepare a healthy breakfast for all and make lunch for school for everybody. (Playing therole of caregiver.) I walk my younger brother and sister to crèche and only after that, when I am finally on myway to school, can I play the role of Jessica, “The Learner”.I am in a multi-racial class with classmates of different cultures, religions and backgrounds. My concentrationis fully focussed on the teacher, listening to every word he or she is saying. I sit in my seat striving toreceive the education my parents were deprived of, knowing I am a girl and it is against my tradition for afemale to attend school and be educated. However I sit in class holding my future in my heart, trying toovercome society and the prejudice that still exists against a young girl being educated.In each class a different teacher stands, each with a different gender, race, and culture. I try to show that Ias a young South African woman am just as worthy to an education as the boy sitting next to me. My schoolis a good source of encouragement especially when it comes to its female learners. With the schools mottobeing “Factum non Verbum” (The deed not the word) I try to live by this motto and to perform the deed, and Iam encouraged to aim higher.GIRLS EDUCATION MOVEMENT South Africa 5