WUNRN
YEMEN
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SANAA, 6 June 2010 (IRIN) - A
two-year-old government scheme offering financial incentives to parents in the rural
areas of two of the country’s poorest governorates to send their daughters to
school or to prevent them from dropping out is paying off as girls' enrollment
rates have increased by around 9 percent in the targeted schools, according to
education officials.
As part
of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) scheme, education departments in the
southern governorate of Lahj and the western governorate of Hodeida are giving
girls an annual stipend of YR 8,000 (US$35) in two installments, according to
deputy education minister Lutfiya Hamza.
"To
get this money, the girl must attend at least 80 percent of classes each
semester,” Hamza told IRIN.
The
scheme is part of the education ministry's Basic Education Development Project
(BEDP), supported by the World Bank, the UK Department for International
Development and the Netherlands government.
The objective of BEDP is to assist Yemen in expanding the
provision of quality basic education for all with particular attention on
gender equity.
Gender gap
According
to a 2007 UN
Development Programme report, 43 percent of girls and 67 percent of boys
were enrolled in primary, secondary and tertiary education in the country. In
addition, only 35 percent of girls were literate, compared with 73 percent of
boys.
The
Yemeni government’s education strategy aims to have 90 percent of all girls in
school by the end of this year and 95 percent by 2015. It also aims to reduce
the gap of boys’ and girls’ enrollment to 11 percent.
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Girls out of school and
fetching water |
The
incentive scheme seeks to reduce poverty and population growth rates by
ensuring girls are educated.
“In
Yemen, poverty is associated with the rapid population growth,” Ahmad
al-Arashi, head of BEDP, said. “When girls attain higher levels of education,
they will be aware of family planning and birth spacing, which are the key to
alleviating poverty.”
He said
many social problems, including early marriage and child malnourishment, are
symptomatic of the high female illiteracy rate in Yemen.
“By
having access to education and completing their education, girls will refuse to
marry at an early age,” he said. “Also, their parents will not force their
daughters to marry at a younger age when they see them going to school with the
support from CCT.”
In
Lahj, the distribution of a CCT installment recently ended on 24 May.
“Up to
28,000 girls in grades four to nine in 216 schools in the governorate received
incentives from the scheme this year [2009-2010 academic year],” Ali Ahmad
al-Salami, head of Lahj Provincial Education Office, said.
In
Hodeida, the scheme is benefitting some 6,700 girls, according to deputy
education minister Hamza.
"Waste of
money"
However,
convincing parents of the benefits of sending their daughters to school is an
uphill struggle. Many families, particularly in rural areas, say it is a
"waste of money", Hamza said. "After grade five or six, girls
stay home to cook and fetch water and firewood until they get married.”
Because
jobs are limited for women in Yemen, poor families often feel it is better to
educate their sons as they will have more opportunities, she said.
Thousands
of rural families in Lahj cannot afford to pay for their children’s education.
“Poverty
is the main obstacle hindering education in general and girls’ education in
particular,” Salah Salim, a local councilor in the governorate, said. "In
many rural areas, a seven-member family lives on less than YR1,000 [US$4.5] a
day, and therefore resorts to keeping their daughters out of school.”
Abdullah
al-Subaihi, a day labourer from Tor al-Baha district in Lahj Governorate, said
he only sends his two sons to school. "None of my three teenage daughters
go to school because we don't have enough money," he said.
Andrew
Moore, Yemen Country Director of NGO Save the Children (SC), said further
awareness raising of the benefits of educating girls was necessary in rural communities.
"We
use specific examples such as the link between malnutrition and education: the
higher educated the mothers in households are generally, the less malnourished
children are," Moore said.
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