Girls in a classroom. AI Image generated by author on fotor

 

Education is the game changer we need to transform the lives of adolescent girls

Adolescence is a time of growth and exploration; when young people begin to develop their own sense of identity, explore and dream of what their future might look like. For adolescent girls, adolescence is a time when potentially, their potential can flourish through opportunities and investments made in their lives by parents, teachers, governments. 

Unfortunately, adolescence could also mean an end to girls’ potential, as their dreams and aspirations give way to child marriage, pregnancy, HIV and sexual violence. This,  of course, depends on the part of the world they grow up in, with girls in  developing countries  more likely to come up against these obstacles. For instance, adolescent girls in Uganda are at higher  risk of HIV infection – two thirds of all new HIV infections are contracted by adolescent girls. 

Many girls also drop out of school as a result of unwanted teenage pregnancy and early marriage. According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics,  one in four  Ugandan teenage girls get  pregnant by age 19. Four in ten girls are married before their 18th birthday.

 Globally, 119 million girls are out of school. When girls miss out on education due to early marriage and teen pregnancy, the impact is not only felt by them; it carries on to future generations. Children born to adolescent parents are more likely to perform poorly in school. These children  live below the poverty line later in life and have a higher chance of dropping out of school and becoming young parents themselves. 

 According to UNFPA, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, 21 million pregnancies happen among adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 in low- and middle-income countries, nearly half of which are unintended. Complications of pregnancy and childbirth are among the leading causes of death for adolescent girls worldwide.

As if the physical complications are not enough, adolescent mothers endure judgement and stigma, labeled as “bad, loose fast” girls, the circumstances under which they got pregnant totally ignored. 

Stigma also means adolescent girls, are less likely to seek health services, which further puts them at risk of getting inadequate prenatal care, jeopardizing their health and that of their babies. According to UNFPA,  young people face numerous structural, cultural and legal barriers to obtaining sexual and reproductive health information and services. In many countries reproductive health service delivery targeting adolescents is controversial, clouded by service providers’, policy makers’ and societal views about sex, family and parenting, and gender relations. 

There are many ways to tackle the   obstacles that stand in the way of adolescent girls. 

But one of the most impactful approaches is to make education accessible to all adolescent girls. 

According to the World Bank there are few spheres of development with so much potential to transform girls’ lives as education.  Education holds the key to unlocking a wealth of opportunities for girls; in addition to preparing them for future earnings through skills development, it has spillover effects that enhance girls’ health and overall wellbeing.

Studies show that for every additional year a girl stays in school, her future income increases, reducing the likelihood of poverty and improving her overall quality of life.

Education offers girls a protective environment for girls, equipping them with the skills needed to navigate life’s transitions. Women who complete secondary education have healthier children, are less likely to experience intimate partner violence, and report higher levels of psychological well-being.

  

But for education to work for girls it requires deliberate approaches by governments and stakeholders in education, including parents. While governments in low-income countries are spending more on education, more funding is still needed to expand access to those that are still left behind. The World Bank and UNESCO  Education Finance Watch (EFW) report shows that  government spending on education in low-income countries as a percentage of GDP rose from 3.2 percent in 2018 to 3.6 percent in 2021. This is still below the international benchmark of 4 percent of GDP, or 15% to 20% of public expenditure. 

With funds in place, the next steps revolve around delivery of a mix of education initiatives: 

From construction and rehabilitation of schools, ensuring that they are within easy reach of girls, to provision of free education and scholastic materials, to ensure that girls from poor backgrounds are not deterred by high costs. 

Beyond the brick and mortar investments, it is critical to create an enabling environment, making sure that schools are safe spaces for adolescent girls. For instance, for many girls in the developing world, managing menstruation is a challenge and a key reason for dropouts. Therefore, initiatives to provide sanitary products can significantly enhance girls’ educational experiences and outcomes. Initiatives that help improve overall safety conditions in schools and ensure availability of skilled and motivated teachers to support adolescent girls to enroll and stay in school are also critical.   

To help shift social norms around girls’ positions in society and the importance of availing the same opportunities for education to both boys and girls, it is important to implement campaigns, targeting especially those that hold decision making power including parents, religious and cultural leaders.  

Delivery of life skills education, including health information is key. School is a great entry point for education on reproductive health information to empower adolescent girls with information and skills to avoid pregnancy and HIV infection. 

This September, at the  Summit Of the Future world leaders signed a global pact committing to, among other things, achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, and ensure women’s participation  at all levels of decision-making.  Such global commitments provide entry points for countries to strengthen their own commitments to better the lives of their citizens, in this case adolescent girls. 

Adolescent girls account for 600 million of the words 8 billion people.  Imagine the transformational power this cohort can unleash on their families, their communities, the world, if they are educated and empowered!

Let’s help them get there. Let’s all do more to ensure girls go to school and stay in school.

By Martha Songa 

*This article was written in honour of International Day of the Girl Child, celebrated annually on October 11.