miske witt & associates inc. ungei advocacy for education for all transition to post-primary...
TRANSCRIPT
Miske Witt & Associates Inc.
UNGEI Advocacy for
Education for All
Transition to Post-Primary Education: Focus on Girls
Miske Witt & Associates Inc.
The Time is NOW
• Transition to Post-Primary Education (PPE) must be given high priority in all countries
• PPE is especially critical for girls; the barriers must be addressed
• UNGEI can make a difference!
Miske Witt & Associates Inc.
What is Post-Primary Education?
PPE includes all learning opportunities for adolescents:
• lower and upper secondary• tertiary education• vocational/technical education, job training • life skills, health education, income
generation programs• even basic education for youth who have
not completed primary school
Miske Witt & Associates Inc.
Post-Primary Education is. . .
1. a human right, and important for achieving gender equity
2. Important to improving health and life chances of individuals, families, and communities
3. Important for national development - economic, social, political
4. Necessary for reaching MDGs, EFA and for maintaining UPE
Miske Witt & Associates Inc.
Education is a Human Right
• Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), ages 0-18“Encourage the development of different forms of secondary education, including general and vocational education, make them available and accessible to every child. . .” (CRC, Article 28)
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• The commitment to achieving gender equity; gender differences in participation and achievement are more pronounced at the post-primary level
Miske Witt & Associates Inc.
PPE is Key to Improving Life Conditions
• …of individuals, families, and communities• More education means healthier families,
and lower fertility rates• Educated youth are more likely to send
their own (future) children to school for longer periods
• Lack of post-primary options further marginalizes the already disadvantaged and adversely affects life chances
Miske Witt & Associates Inc.
PPE is Key to Development
• Development of knowledge, skills, and competencies are essential to success in the job market and important for participation in civil society (Lewin, 2005)
• Globalization and development are increasing the amount of knowledge and level of skill individuals need; more education is necessary.
Miske Witt & Associates Inc.
PPE is necessary . . .
• To achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015
• To achieve the goals of Education for All by 2015
• To achieve and to sustain Universal Primary Education
Miske Witt & Associates Inc.
Post-Primary Education is important and necessary.
• for the development of civil society,• for more complex and sustainable
economic and political infrastructure, • for healthy families and societies, • for the protection of the environment,
and • for cultural and human rights in global
contexts that are increasingly complex
Miske Witt & Associates Inc.
II. PPE is especially critical for girls.
As shown by • gender gaps in
recent data • benefits to girls of
Post-Primary Education
Miske Witt & Associates Inc.
Benefits and Barriers
• Girls’ benefit from PPE in a variety of ways
• There are many barriers to girls’ education– System barriers– School barriers– Household barriers
Miske Witt & Associates Inc.
Benefits to Girls of Post-primary Education
• Health and well-being of the young woman and of her (fewer) children
• Economic: New skills for paid work
• Empowerment through emancipatory knowledge (e.g., rights, understanding of sexuality, norms that restrict empowerment)
• Capacity to avoid HIV/AIDS
Miske Witt & Associates Inc.
Barriers to Post-Primary Education for Girls
• Barriers are overlapping, intertwining, and multisectoral
• Poverty
Children from the richest 1/5 of households in SSA are 11 times more likely to reach Grade 9 than those from the poorest 2/5 of households.
The ratio of boys to girls is 4:1 among the poorest 2/5 of households for Grade 9 participation. (Lewin, 2005)
Miske Witt & Associates Inc.
Barriers to PPE for Girls
• System level– Lack of schools– Insufficient number of teachers– Absence of plans – Constrained resources to deal with
expected increased demand
Miske Witt & Associates Inc.
Barriers to PPE for Girls
Barriers at the School level– Poor quality of curriculum, textbooks and
gendered images, gender-biased instruction, – Lack of facilities/privacy for menses– Gender violence
• Barriers at the Family/Household level– Cultural norms– Care-giving roles
Miske Witt & Associates Inc.
UNGEI can make a difference!
Advocate for gender parity, equity, equalityUse lessons from EFA and Basic Education• Attend to access and quality simultaneously• Develop a “seamless system” of post-
primary education • Use a system-wide approach• Ensure involvement of partners and
stakeholders in policy and planning discussions
Miske Witt & Associates Inc.
UNGEI can make a difference!
Design by
Text from Girls’ Transition to Post-Primary Education, prepared for UNGEI by