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ADDIS ABABA – African nations at the ongoing Pan African Conference on Girls Education have committed to keeping the girl child in school amid revelations that 51 million girls across the content remain out of formal education.
The conference is running under the theme ‘Prioritising Girls and Women’s Education for increased access to inclusive, lifelong, quality and relevant learning in Africa’ and is being hosted by the Africa Union International Centre for the Girls and Women in Africa AU/CIEFFA.
According to Unesco, Africa is the only continent where gender parity has not been achieved while 35 percent of girls are married before the age of 18.
“We need to do more to ensure that every girl on the continent has quality education. These figures mask a much more concerning issue – the way we look at girls and what we imagine for their futures,” said Antara Ganguli, director of the United Nations Girls Innovative during the ongoing conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The African Union has declared 2024 as The Year of Education, amid efforts to improve girls’ enrolment, including the reintegration of adolescent mothers into formal education.
Zimbabwe is among African nations with policy of reintegration of adolescent mothers into school.
Deputy Chairperson for the AU Commission, Dr Monique Nsanzabaganwa said despite the Covid-19 pandemic that saw more girls out of school, there has been marked improvement in the enrolment of girls and women.
“There is a high number of girls and women getting enrolled now, compared to 30 years ago. Consequently, the retention and completion rates have also improved,” she said.
Data from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) indicates that 46 million school-aged children are out of school in Eastern and Southern Africa.
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In Ethiopia, over 8.3 million children are out of school due to several factors, including conflict and climate shocks.
“We urgently need to respond to the education crisis. We must mobilise greater political ambition, commitment and action to reserve setbacks in education,” Norway Permanent Commission to the AU, Ambassador Stian Christensen said.
Delegates at the conference will evaluate the status of girls and women’s education in Africa, galvanising support and finance for girls’ education.
It has been widely agreed that if Africa can keep more girls in school, there will be less child marriages.
Uganda, one of the first African countries to implement AU Cieffa’s Africa Educate Her Campaign has seen progress in the enrolment of girls into primary school.
“Girls constitute 50.6 percent in primary education. We have seen more girls stepping up in Stem due to gender mainstreaming,” Uganda Minister of State for Primary Education Joyce Kaducu said.
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