Girls Education

Girls’ education is a strategic development priority for Better Futures for Children. Investing in girls’ education transforms families, communities, countries and the entire world. Girls who receive an education are less likely to marry young and more likely to lead healthy, productive lives. They earn higher incomes, participate in the decisions that most affect them, and build better futures for themselves and their families. Girls’ education strengthens economies and reduces inequality. 

It contributes to more stable, resilient societies that give all individuals – including boys and men – the opportunity to fulfil their potential. But education for girls is about more than access to school. It’s also about girls feeling safe in classrooms and supported in the subjects and careers they choose to pursue – including those in which they are often under-represented.

Investing in girls’ education transforms families, communities, countries and the entire world. Girls who receive an education are less likely to marry young and more likely to lead healthy, productive lives. They earn higher incomes, participate in the decisions that most affect them, and build better futures for themselves and their families. Girls’ education strengthens economies and reduces inequality. 

It contributes to more stable, resilient societies that give all individuals – including boys and men – the opportunity to fulfil their potential. But education for girls is about more than access to school. It’s also about girls feeling safe in classrooms and supported in the subjects and careers they choose to pursue – including those in which they are often under-represented.

However, every day, thousands of girls in Kisumu face barriers to education. The barriers for girls are manifold and complex. Even when school fees are eliminated, costs for transportation, textbooks or uniforms can be too high to bear, especially for girls living in extreme poverty. There can also be indirect costs, as girls from poor backgrounds who go to school lose out on potential income and spend less time at home, contributing to family tasks or taking care of family members. Many girls are forced to get married before their fifteenth birthday, give birth and take on household duties. As a result, it may seem less necessary for parents to send their daughters to school.  

Parents may also be deterred from sending their girls to school, especially in locations that are not safe and where sexual violence against women and girls is widespread. Schools and teachers may not create a gender-sensitive environment. For example, schools may not have separate toilets, discouraging girls from attending school during their periods. Furthermore, a lack of gender-sensitive teaching can result in girls being excluded from subjects such as science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and can generally create a climate where girls are not encouraged to learn.

Child marriage is also a critical challenge in Kisumu. Girls who marry young are much more likely to drop out of school, complete fewer years of education than their peers who marry later. They are also more likely to have children at a young age and are exposed to higher levels of violence perpetrated by their partners.  In turn, this affects the education and health of their children, as well as their ability to earn a living. Indeed, girls with secondary schooling are up to six times more less likely to marry as those girls with little or no education.

Thousands of children with disabilities in Kisumu do not attend school. The picture for disabled girls is even bleaker. This extremely vulnerable group continue to face exclusion from education and risks such as sexual violence – perhaps because they are seen as helpless and powerless. Disabled girls are almost ‘invisible’ in existing education programs with almost no evidence of effective help being available for them. Some families in Kisumu resist sending their disabled daughters to school because of fears about their safety or in a bid to protect them from sexual violence. 

Girls with disabilities experience attacks and exploitation at much higher rates than other children. Cultural stigma and lack of awareness may mean families do not enrol disabled girls in schools. In extreme cases they are hidden as a result of family shame. Teachers’ low expectations can also hold back girls with disabilities even if they get a school place. Often, they lose out to disabled boys on available assistive devices, rehabilitation or special education services. Both disability inclusion and gender equality are key factors in achieving inclusive education as both gender and disability are significant factors of exclusion.

Ensuring that all girls and young women receive a quality education is their human right, a global development priority, and a strategic priority for most development agencies. Girls’ education goes beyond getting girls into school. It is also about ensuring that girls learn and feel safe while in school; have the opportunity to complete all levels of education, acquiring the knowledge and skills to compete in the labor market; gain socio-emotional and life skills necessary to navigate and adapt to a changing world; make decisions about their own lives; and contribute to their communities.

Education helps girls and young women defy social limits on what they can or cannot do. It empowers them to decide how many children they will have, and how frequently they will get pregnant. By learning about the health risks associated with years of consecutive childbirth, women can choose to delay getting pregnant. Giving vulnerable and at-risk girls a secondary education would reduce the number of births per mother from almost seven to four. 

Improving literacy among girls and young women offers enormous economic benefits. Until there are equal numbers of girls and boys in school, there will still be more illiterate women than men, and many fewer women than men in secure, well-paying jobs. When a young woman is seen as a potential wage-earner for her family, she has a better likelihood of making her own choices and resisting cultural and family pressure to have children.

Education is also closely linked to health. There is consistent evidence that educated girls are far more likely to be able to protect their children from preventable diseases, and to stave off malnutrition in their children’s early years.  Thousands of malnourished children in Kisumu could be saved from malnutrition if all mothers in poor communities were given a secondary education. Malnutrition is not only about food: it starts with poverty, which can be avoided if women receive the education they need to read and earn a living.

Better Futures for Children works with donors, foundations, businesses, communities, and Governments to remove barriers to girls’ education and promote gender equality in education . Because investing in girls’ secondary education is one of the most transformative development strategies, we prioritize interventions that enable all girls to complete secondary education and develop the knowledge and skills they need for life and work. We also work with donors, foundation, private sector and community based organizations in ensuring that the most disadvantaged girls are supported to enter and complete pre-primary and primary education. 

Better Futures for Children works with partners to address other obstacles, like distance-related barriers to education, re-entry policies for young mothers, and menstrual hygiene management in schools.  We also promote  social protection measures, including cash transfers, to improve girls’ transition to and retention in secondary school. Our educational interventions also focus on teacher training and professional development on gender-responsive pedagogies and design evidence based social and behavior change strategies to address gender stereotypes that affect girls’ education .