ANB-BIA SUPPLEMENT

ISSUE/EDITION Nr 325 - 01/06/1997

Africa

Children's rights

by Sarah Tanou, Burkina Faso, April 1997

THEME = CHILDREN

INTRODUCTION -- Regional Summit on Children's Rights
Ouagadougou, 17-22 February 1997

PART 1/2

"Children's rights. Education and Development. Education for all - priority for women and girls" were the topics dealt with at the Regional Summit on Childhood, which took place in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso's capital, 17-22 February 1997. Delegates came from Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Togo. For six days, hundreds of people involved in child protection and basic education; plus educationalists and other international experts worked on these important topics. Problems relating to women and girl's education received particular attention.

Priority to women's education

Over the last years, national and international organisations, together with non-governmental organisations, have convened many conferences and seminars dealing with the situation of women and women's education. These include: 1990 - The World Conference for Universal Education, held in Thailand; also in 1990 - the 26th OAU Conference which adopted the African Charter on Children's Rights; 1993 - the Pan-African Conference on Girls' Education; 1995 - the Regional Summit on Childhood which focused on the right of girls to be educated.
All these conferences confirmed the important role of women in their country's development. Women can only fully take up this role if they are educated properly and efficiently. In Africa, the burden of caring for the family is almost entirely women's responsibility. 80% of them are illiterate, but in agriculture, they make up 46% of the workforce. It's easy to imagine the impact they could have if they were all educated.

Improving women's status

Women's status must improve if Africa is to achieve integral development. All agree that when it comes to stimulating a child's intelligence and curiosity, as well as developing his/her creativity, a mother's role is vital. A child with an illiterate mother, living in an environment which can scarcely be described as "stimulating", will be handicapped when compared to other children. The weight of tradition is more likely to fall on illiterate women and influence them negatively, than on those who have received some education. They are also likely to pass these same negative values on to their daughters. Girls' access to school is conditioned by their mothers' level of education.
Seen in this context, the importance of women's education becomes clear. Society and State have the obligation to give women equal opportunities for education, and a chance to improve their life-situation. Ways and means to help African girls exist and should be used. There will be no development, no progress in Africa, as long as girls and women are not granted their legitimate rights to education, democracy and freedom, i.e. to assuming their full responsibilities as women. Dr. Kwegyir, a Ghanaian doctor, says: "Educating a girl is educating a nation". The creation of a environment likely to encourage girls' schooling, is a national responsibility. Fewer girls than boys have access to secondary education, and not many are able to continue on to tertiary education. If governments are serious about providing girls with equal education opportunities, they must take a series of obvious measures to create this motivating environment mentioned above.
Solemn declarations have been made many times; resolutions have been voted in; but African women and girls still wait in silence. They wait for basic education and training to be made available to them, so that they can assert their fundamental right to improve their chances in life. They wait and they suffer. UNESCO's Deputy Director, Mr Colin Power says: "It is patently clear that, in Africa, the poor, and more particularly poor women, carry the burden of costly development projects, national debt, structural adjustment and armed conflicts".
Rapid population growth makes it difficult to provide basic education for all. In some African countries, girls actually attending school, will only be able to remain there for about 16 months. Undeniably, however, educated women have less children and healthier families, and are economically more productive than those without education. Denying girls the right to schooling, leads to shortcomings in terms of economic development.
The Education sector cannot possibly be solely responsible for all aspects of girls' education. Other government ministries have to play their part, and a good look has to be taken at those long-term rural development programmes in need of revision.

Alarming statistics

Progress has been made over the last ten years regarding education possibilities for girls and women. But ten years is ten years, and it's proving difficult to make up for lost time. Even today, women are to all intents and purposes, absent from the decision-making bodies in society.
Let's take a look at some facts. Of the 948 million illiterates in the world today, two-thirds are women. Of the 130 million children not attending school, 81 million are girls. According to the 1990 statistics dealing with developing countries, women count for less than 20% among educated people. In Africa, 36 million girls are not in school, and among those who did register, 64% leave before being able to read and write properly.
Even if general school attendance is increasing, when it comes to registering for school, there's far more boys than girls, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. And in most cases, boys' school attendance is at least 20% higher than that of girls.

END of PART 1/2

====> PART 2/2: click here

CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE

PeaceLink 1997 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement