The importance of education for women and girls on International Women’s Day

Minister of State for Overseas Development, Peter Power TD, today launched the Education for All 2010 Global Monitoring Report, the UNESCO report which tracks progress on the number of children being educated around the globe.

The report highlights progress on the number of children attending school. The number of children out of school has fallen by 33 million since 1999, and the gender gap in primary education is narrowing in many countries.

The launch, which was hosted by Irish Aid, the Government’s programme for overseas development, in its Limerick headquarters, marks International Women’s Day (8th March).

Speaking at the launch of the report, "Reaching and teaching the most marginalized, Minister Power stressed the importance of sustained investment in education, in particular for women in the poorest communities in Africa:

“This important report shows that while there has been progress in narrowing the gap between the numbers of girls and boys that attend school, being born a girl still carries a significant educational disadvantage in many countries.

Women still account for nearly two thirds of the world’s adult illiterate population. In sub-Saharan Africa, where much of Ireland's aid is targeted, almost 12 million girls are unlikely ever to enroll in school, compared to 7 million boys.

As we know in Ireland from our own experience, education is key to sustainable social and economic progress. I am very pleased to note that in eight of the African countries in which Irish Aid works, primary enrolment increased by 34 million children between 1970 and 2005, a fivefold increase.

But these figures are only indicators that we’re on the right road. We still have a significant distance to travel. We know that most of the 72 million children who are still out of school are in what is termed the ‘hard-to-reach’ group: AIDS orphans, child laborers children living in remote areas, children with disabilities and those of ethnic and linguistic minorities.

Irish Aid provides vital support to one such group in the Karamjoa district of Uganda. Irish Aid works with the Government to improve access to basic education for the children of pastoral farmers. Over the last decade, Uganda, with support from Irish Aid and others has increased the number of Ugandan children at primary school from two million to over seven million.”

Minister Power also launched ‘Teachers in Anglophone Africa – Issues in Teacher Supply, Training and Management, published as a result of collaboration between Irish Aid and the World Bank. It was written and researched by Dr. Aidan Mulkeen of National University of Ireland Maynooth.

Minister Power said:

“This is a testimony to the expertise that Ireland is bringing to the international education arena – particularly in the area of improving quality of education.

In advance of the Millennium Development Goals’ Summit in New York in September; we must remember that it is not enough to get girls into school. We must ensure that they get a good quality education. Improving the quality of the education will not just help us reach the education related Millennium Development goals but will underpin progress on all the other Millennium Development Goals.”