International Literacy Day is 8 September and this year focuses on ‘Literacy teaching and learning in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond’, highlighting literacy learning from a lifelong learning perspective.

Here, we review this topic beginning with two excellent recent articles written by SI UN Representative, Paris, Evelyne Para.

1. A report on the ‘Skills Academy’, created by partners to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), to boost the employability of young people threatened by the current economic crisis which you can find HERE; and,

2. An article that discusses the impact of school closures around the world during the pandemic, and the unprecedented threat they pose to the education, protection, and well-being of children. Visit HERE

Karen Cromer Johnson member of SI Twin Cities, Minnesota, USA, and Soroptimist International Board Member 2020-2021, also writes for us, and in a timely article in recognition of this month’s 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, asks, what progress has been made since Beijing?

In 1995, 100 million children, including 60 million girls, did not have access to primary education. Early marriage, pregnancy and domestic responsibilities were reasons that led girls to drop out of school. To address these and other obstacles, The Beijing Platform for Action was developed in 1995 as an agenda for women’s empowerment. The platform identified 12 critical areas of concern and proposed strategic objectives and actions to address them. One of these areas was “Education and Training of Women” (United Nations 1995). This paper will discuss the progress that has been made since then in access to education for girls, concentrating on primary and secondary education. It will look at a specific Soroptimist programme that is helping girls by lowering barriers to access, and it will look at what still needs to be done in girls’ education.

There were 100.8 million children ages 6 to 11 not in primary school in 2000. Of these, 58.3 million or 58% were girls. By 2016 the total number of children dropping out primary school decreased to 63.4 million. Of these, 34.3 million or 54% were girls (UNESCO, 2017). Therefore, there has been improvement in access to primary education for girls because there are fewer total numbers and a smaller percentage of girls out of school.

For youth ages 12 to 14, the same trend followed with fewer girls dropping out of lower secondary school. In 2000 there were 54 million girls (54%) not in lower secondary school, but that decreased to 30 million girls (49%) in 2016 (UNESCO, 2017). For youth age 15 to17, the total number of girls not in upper secondary school in 2000 was 92.7 million (52%), but by 2016 had decreased to 67.4 million (49%) (UNESCO, 2017).  In this span of 16 years the world reached gender parity in school attendance for lower and upper secondary education, but not quite for primary girls. Unfortunately, the initial decline in girls out of school has plateaued since about 2012. Therefore, we can say that progress toward the Beijing Platform for girls’ education was made, but has stalled since 2012.

There are many explanations why progress toward girls’ access to education has stalled, but one prominent factor is the increase in migration. According to Internal Displacement Monitoring Center’s Global Report in 2017, 20 million children were internally displaced. Added to this are 13 million child refugees giving a total of 33 million forcibly displaced children between the ages of 0 and 18. Among refugee children, only 61% have access to primary school compared to 92% global average. Only 23% of refugee children have access to secondary education compared to 84% global average (Internal, 2017).

What is Soroptimist International doing to achieve the Beijing Platform? The Soroptimist International of the Americas program Dream it Be It Career Support for Girls (DIBI) is an example of Soroptimist clubs working to improve girls’ education access and success. Clubs partner with secondary level girls in small groups for 7-8 weeks or during 1-2 day workshops. The girls learn tools to study career opportunities, set goals, and overcome obstacles including; poverty, unstable home lives, racial and cultural inequalities. According to follow up surveys of program participants, 90% of the girls felt more confident, 87% felt more prepared to pursue career goals and 89% felt they had created achievable goals for their future. The DIBI program impacted 21,000 girls in 14 countries in 2018/2019, and 55,000 girls since the programs’ inception in 2015 (SIA, 2020).

In conclusion, there has been progress in girls’ access to education since the Beijing Platform in 1995.  Both the total number and the percentage of girls out of school decreased, but this success has stalled since 2012. To continue to make progress towards the goals of the Beijing Platform, the global community needs to remove many more barriers. We need to ensure that not only schools are safe, but also the journey to and from schools are safe for girls, meaning free from violence. Girls need access to safe water and sanitation facilities. We need to reduce or remove education costs. We need stronger encouragement to girls to reduce the digital gender divide. We must address the needs of migrating, refugee and displaced girls. We must work to reduce early marriages. Finally, men and boys must be involved to prevent continuing discrimination of girls (SI, 2020).

Find out more about International Literacy Day at: https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/literacyday

Cited Sources

Internal Displacement Monitoring Center. (2017). https://www.internal-displacement.org/global-report/grid2017/

Soroptimist International (SI). (2020, January 1). “SI Position Paper: Access to Education and Training” Retrieved August 20, 2020 from https://www.soroptimistinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WWSS-Education-and-Training.pdf

Soroptimist International of the Americas (SIA). (2020, July 1). “Preparing Girls for a Brighter Future. Our Global Impact in FY18/19” Retrieved August 20, 2020, from http://bit.ly/DIBI-Impact

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). (2017). “More than One-Half of Children and Adolescents are Not Learning Worldwide.” UIS fact sheet No. 46. Montreal: UIS. Retrieved August 20, 2020, from http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/fs46-more-than-half-children-not-learning-en-2017.pdf

United Nations. (1995). “Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action”. Reprinted by UNWomen 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2020 from https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/csw/pfa_e_final_web.pdf?la=en&vs=1203