WUNRN
Attached is the 2006 Report to the
United Nations of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education: GIRLS'
RIGHT TO EDUCATION.
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An Uneducated Girl is a Girl in Darkness
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Two-thirds
of the world's 880 million illiterate adults are women. Girls are more than 70
percent of the 125 million children who don't have a school to attend.
Significantly more girls than boys enrolled in the first grade fail to complete
the first cycle of primary school.
Social traditions and deep-rooted religious and cultural beliefs are most often the barriers to expanding girls' educational opportunities in undeveloped countries around the world.
Did you know that:
- In parts of the Horn of Africa girls are abducted for
marriage, causing them to be reluctant to walk the far distances to get to
school?
- Throughout the Sahel region of Africa and parts of the Middle
East, a dowry system, often promoting that girls leave their studies, is
still in place?
- The AIDS crisis in Southern Africa and Asia drives many
young women, little more than children themselves, to become heads of
families, become involved in child trafficking and drop out of school?
- In parts of Latin America, girls and women from
indigenous areas have little opportunity to learn to read and write?
Despite these conditions, there is much desire for change: Parents in even the poorest circumstances everywhere hope that their children will receive an education. Even though the barriers to education for girls in these countries are many, they are not insurmountable. This is why Save the Children works to reduce the obstacles to education for girls.
Understanding the barriers to girls' education in particular is key to launching our innovative approaches. Educating girls and women results in:
- Healthier, better educated children and grandchildren;
- Fewer maternal deaths and reductions in the under 5 mortality
rate;
- Delayed marriage and better parenting skills;
- Improved literacy and numeracy skills leading to
greater economic opportunities;
- More skills and knowledge enhancing women's self esteem
and the well being of families.
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