“Quality of education is a sine qua non condition for children and youth to grasp the challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century”– Graça Machel.
The Graça Machel Trust, through its Children’s Rights Programme recognises the International Day of Education which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 03 December 2018 during the Global Education Meeting held in Brussels, to celebrate the role of education in development. On this day, we urge all African leaders to reaffirm their commitment to the Dakar Framework of 2000 and subsequently the Incheon Declaration of 2015, to promote equal learning opportunities for both girls and boys, to ensure that no African government contributes to leaving behind any child in the development of Africa.
Education as rightfully postulated through Article 28 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), is a fundamental human right for every child, irrespective of their race, gender, nationality, ethnic, religious and political background.
However, despite this, according to the UNESCO 2017 report, at least 264 million children across the world have no access to education, with over 9 million of these being girls from Sub-Saharan Africa. These staggering statistics forced the Graça Machel Trust (GMT) to prioritise education as one of its key strategic focus areas for African children, particularly girls.
Today, as we celebrate the role of education in development, the Graça Machel Trust is implementing an Education Project which supports the government of Tanzania to attain SDG4 which focuses on ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all, particularly, in ensuring that the girl child is not left behind in obtaining an education.
Studies from the early 2000s, revealed an increase in the enrolment of primary school children in Africa. Despite this increase, gender disparities in education remain a huge concern in Sub-Saharan Africa, a boy child is placed as a priority when it comes to education as compared to a girl child. Girls are denied access to education through discrimination, violence in schools, poverty, female genital mutilation, teenage pregnancies, and mainly through harmful cultural practices such as early and forced child marriages.
According to a 2018 Report released by the Girls Not Bride (a global partnership of over 1000 civil society organisations and of which GMT is a member), 18 of the top 20 countries with the highest rates of child marriage in the world are in Africa. Thus, demonstrating that early and forced marriage of girls is a sign that marriage is conventionally perceived as being more important for girls than is education.
“It is no secret that in order for a society to advance, it must harness the potential of all of its citizens, and therefore, investment in education of the girl child is central to vibrant, equitable societies where social justice reigns,” Graça Machel.
The Trust is implementing an Education project in the Mara Region of Tanzania, which focusses on the Out Of School Children. The project began with Phase One in 2017, with a specific emphasise on the girl child. The project is a partnership between the Graça Machel Trust, Educate A Child (EAC), Mara Alliance and The Republic of Tanzania Ministry of Regional Admnistration and Local Government Authority and aims at enrolling and retaining 20,000 children back into schools in the region. We devote our time and efforts in ensuring communities recognise the relevance of education for girls and that girls are enrolled and retained in school. At the end of Phase One in December 2018, we had enrolled a total of 20, 414 Out of School Children, of which, 5,120 are girls, which translates to 25% reach. These low figures of girls’ enrollement, exhibit the great work which still needs to be accomplished to ensure we bridge the inequalities of education in Africa.
At the initiation of the project, the Trust’s primary objective was to discern the reasons why children in the Mara Region were not in school or dropped out. A study was then commissioned through the Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF) in 2016, which profiled more than 20,000 out-of-school children, revealed the main reasons to be associated with poverty, illness, disability, death of parents and families placing more value in educating boys than girls.
The project has been a major step in fighting child marriage, early teenage pregnancies and female genital mutilation which are prevalent and form the biggest barriers to education of girls in the region. In addition, the programme was designed as an accelerated education programme where children will be integrated into the formal education system. It also adopts an all-encompassing approach to education which broadens the range of competencies of girls both to reduce the risks they face during adolescence such as teenage pregnancies and to enhance their social and economic independence as adults, so as to remove dependency on men for their economic survival.
Throughout the project, it has been observed that the number of girls enrolling in schools remains relatively low, thus, our call on the very first ever International Day of Education is for all African leaders to prioritise a girl child’s education by placing gender equity at the center of their education policies, strategies and programmes. We also urge all African leaders to work in partnership with civil society organisations including child – led organisations, private sector, the media, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) and National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) to jointly raise broader awareness with the general public, decision – makers, practitioners and policy makers about the value and importance of investing resources on the girl child’s education. Above all, to make it mandatory for the girl child to access and receive quality education. It’s about time to educate communities about the relevance of education for a girl child’s survival and development and promote education as a fundamental right for all citizens, in particular girls.
Read more on our Children’s Rights Programme here
The Trust supports and mobilises civil society networks on issues of ending child marriage, ending violence against children, ending female genital mutilation and promoting children’s rights, to carry out advocacy and action across Africa. Special focus is placed on Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia where child marriage continues to be a problem largely driven by poverty, gender inequality, harmful traditional practices, conflict, low levels of literacy, limited opportunities for girls and weak or non-existent protective and preventive legal frameworks.
Education is a fundamental right for all children, which is also a vehicle for social, economic and political transformation in communities, countries and the African continent at large. Recent studies indicate a lack of progress in some of the critical commitments aimed at improving education quality, access, retention and achievement, particularly for girls. In most African countries, girls may face barriers to learning, especially when they reach post-primary levels of education. By implementing multi-dimensional approaches to education which includes core education, personal development, life skills and economic competencies, the Trust partners with funding partners, governments, civil societies and the private sector to improve education access.
The Nutrition and Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition, (RMNCAH+N) of the Children’s Rights and Development Programme aims at promoting the Global Strategy for women, children and adolescents’ health within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. The strategy emphasises on the importance of effective country leadership as a common factor across countries making progress in improving the health of women, children and adolescents.
Through its Early Childhood Development (ECD) plan, The Trust will seek to put into action the new science and evidence Report that was presented by Lancet Series on Good and early development – the right of every child. This will be achieved by mobilising like-minded partners to contribute in the new science and evidence to reach all young children with ECD. The Trust’s goal is to be a catalyst for doing things differently, in particular, to rid fragmentation and lack of coordination across ECD sectors. In response to evidence showing the importance of political will in turning the tide against the current poor access and quality of ECD. Even before conception, starting with a mother’s health and social economic conditions, the early years of a child’s life form a fundamental foundation that determines whether a child will survive and thrive optimally.