A fair chance - United Nations Girls' Education Initiative

In Sub-Saharan Africa, the overall female netenrolment rate will have to almost double from itscurrent level in order to meet the 2015 target (seeFigure 13). Among the group of French-speakingAfrican countries where gender inequalities areparticularly acute, female enrolments will have toincrease by over 200 per cent (assuming zerorepetition), compared with around 120 per cent formales. In Southern Africa, on the other hand, femaleenrolments will only have to increase by six per cent tomeet the 2015 target, mainly because of the impact ofHIV/AIDS on the school-aged population.What must be done?Clearly, there is no single blueprint that can be rolledout for all countries. The need for diverse and creativenational policy responses is underlined in Table 9,which shows the top recommendations highlightedby the local researchers for eight of the case studycountries at a workshop (See also Annex 1). However,there are also certain basic concerns that must beaddressed in nearly all countries.In order to achieve the 2005 and 2015 education goals,governments and donors must work together to:Table 9: Priority Gender InterventionsNigeriaMaliMalawiEthiopiaCambodiaPakistanNepalIndiaBangladeshNFE/Bridging for Adolescent Girls ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓Female Literacy ✓ ✓ ✓Gender Sensitive Curriculum and Practice ✓ ✓ ✓Integrate Life Skills into Curriculum ✓ ✓Protection Against Sexual Harassment at School✓Support for Children Affected by HIV/AIDS andPregnant School Girls✓Improve Separate Toilets at School for Girls and Boys✓Day Care Facilities ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓Compulsory Education ✓ ✓Mentoring for Girls✓Incentives (fee subsidies, cash or kind) for Pupils ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓Participation in Community/School Management ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓Improve and Expand Teacher Training for Women.Incentives for Women Teachers ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓45