Ackerman, X. and K. Scott. (2015). Girls’ Education: Look at the Local. Solutions 6(3): 18-21. https://thesolutionsjournal.com/article/girls-education-look-at-the-local/
Perspectives Girls’ Education: Look at the Local by Xanthe Ackerman and Kaitlyn Scott
GRACE Pakistan
Schoolchildren at GRACE Pakistan with founder Khadim Hussain, center.
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n Gilgit-Baltistan, the forgotten northernmost territory of Pakistan, Khadim Hussain recently got word that extremists planned to bomb the school for girls that he had started. His neighbors took to the streets in a show of public support, and the attack was called off. It is that community backing, built over decades, that protects Hussain and makes his program successful in the unlikeliest of places. Hussain founded the Al-Zahra School two decades ago, when girls’ education was considered a sin in the region. Despite initial resistance, after years of campaigning door to door, he enrolled thousands.
Although girls enroll in school in equal numbers to boys in some countries, in others they are appallingly behind. In Gilgit-Baltistan, 57 percent of girls attend primary school compared to 78 percent of boys.1 In 23 countries, fewer than 85 girls are enrolled in secondary school for every 100 boys.2 Answering the question, ‘what can we do to address the remaining challenges in girls’ education?’ led us to a six month investigation into gaps in global education funding for the Brookings Institution. The answer to that question is both simple and surprising. Girls’ education has made tremendous strides in recent years.
18 | Solutions | May-June 2015 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org
At the primary level in 2000, girls represented 58 percent of children not in school, compared to 53 percent in 2012.3 Given increases in primary enrollment, the third Millennium Development Goal—promoting gender equality and empowering women—is thought to be one of the most successful.4 This leads to the misconception among some policymakers that girls’ education is a finished agenda, ready to be crossed off the list of development goals. Yet, gender equality is far from achieved. Disparity in girls’ education is highly localized. While global ratios have improved, in a key set of countries and in regions within countries, little has changed. For example, in Sub-Saharan Africa, girls were just as far behind in lower secondary school in 2014 as they were in 2004.5 To close the gender gap, we argue that policymakers have to understand and address challenges in context. This cannot be accomplished through large-scale, cookie-cutter programs replicated from country to country. Work in the places where girls are furthest behind—from Gilgit-Baltistan, to northern Nigeria, to Yemen—requires deep analysis of the specific barriers that girls face as well as trust in local leadership. Government and international assistance rarely reach Gilgit-Baltistan. The Taliban banned girls’ education in the neighboring Swat Valley in 2009,6 and later attempted to assassinate girls’ education advocate Malala Yousafzai. Many people are suspicious after the war in Afghanistan and drone strikes across the border, and see girls’ education as a Western agenda to secularize Pakistan.