The education of the girl-child and the women they become is one of the single most important contributions society can make to improving income, health and development for the community at large.

It is not overstating the matter to say: “An educated woman can change anything.. and can change everything.”

Article 26 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory… and shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Cultural Attitudes

Despite this and Uganda’s mandate to provide education for all of its citizens, there are lingering cultural attitudes that interfere with the girl child’s access to this basic human right. According to Dr. Osita Excellence O. Oleribe, President, Anti-Child Abuse Society of Africa (ACASA)¹, “Many blame girl non-education on poverty. Although poverty has a role to play, one can comfortably say that non-girl-child education is also the cause of poverty. So they are intertwined in an unholy circle causing and perpetuating each other.”

Many children are made to believe hat formal education is not needed because their fulfilment is “in their husband’s home and since education (to them) is not needed to marry nor make babies, they should just focus on getting the right man, accepting the parent’s choice and making such a man happy.” And even if this belief is not stated, children of both genders are pulled out of school for digging, planting and caring for their siblings or an ill parent. There are many understandable challenges, but these cultural beliefs fall short even in their own justifications. Overall, the research shows that an educated woman supports the family life and community far more than an uneducated one.

Train the Woman – Train the Family

“Train the woman and you train the whole family” is a saying that is supported again and again by case studies where women who participate in adult education have changed their family’s life – and the life of their community – for the better.

Take the case of Bicenhtina, a sixty-eight year old woman who lives with three primary-three children and had never learned to read or write.

In 2009 she enrolled in literacy-training made possible through Literacy and Adult Basic Education (LABE), an indigenous NGO (www.labeuganda.org) providing multiple programs on improving functional literacy in Northern Uganda, serving roughly 25,000 beneficiaries.

LABE, through its Mother Tongue Education initiative operating in approximately 200 Home Learning Centers in its six districts, trains Parent Educators to hold literacy classes for adults and children in their homes.

Bicenytenia, at Bidin Home Learning Center organized by Parent Educator Mr. Loum Janani, has applied her literacy to introduce Income Generating activities in the form of Rotational Gardening in her village in Alero Sub-county, Nwoya District. As a model farmer and chairperson of her group of ten (six females and four males), Bicenytina has planted a half-hectare field of groundnuts to teach her fellow adults how they should care for their crops. In the process, each member of her group collected funds for purchasing seeds. The excess produce from her garden and those planted by other members will be used to generate income for their families and others in the community.

Bicenytenia, at Bidin Home Learning Center organized by Parent Educator Mr. Loum Janani, has applied her literacy to introduce Income Generating activities in the form of Rotational Gardening in her village in Alero Sub-county, Nwoya District. As a model farmer and chairperson of her group of ten (six females and four males), Bicenytina has planted a half-hectare field of groundnuts to teach her fellow adults how they should care for their crops.

In the process, each member of her group collected funds for purchasing seeds. The excess produce from her garden and those planted by other members will be used to generate income for their families and others in the community.

This success story and other stories like these, characterize the lives of educated girl-children and adults. Studies conducted by developing countries around the world evidence a long list of benefits of girl-child education.

Benefits of Girl-Child Education

One such study conducted in Nigeria shows increased empowerment in every aspect of life:

• Financial
• Mental
• Physical
• Social
• Psychological
• Spiritual
• Intellectual

More Specifically…

To be more specific, the UNESCO Training Manual for Local Government Representatives in Non-Formal Education states that:

• Infant mortality rate among literate mothers is 45, compred to 139 for mothers who do not read.
• Educated people of both genders live longer by an average of twenty years.
• Children of literate parents stay in school longer by forty-per-cent.
• Among literate communities, the average number of patients served by one doctor is eight times less.
• Income is four times higher.

Commitment and Practical Measures

Even if citizens agree in theory to support education, there are practical measures that require commitment on the part of all concerned stakeholders to addres the challenges to achieving effective, quality education. In its close-to-the-ground work with schools, adult learners and communities, LABE recommends a number of actions, which if addressed, dramatically support learning.

• Support literacy in Mother Tongue Language to ensure improved thematic learning and later use of English.
• Support Early Childhood Reading from the cradle onward.

• Ensure that all students ATTEND school and arrive ON TIME.
• Ensure that students are well-fed, since nutrition is a full partner in learning.
• Avoid pulling children from school for farming activities or sibling care.
• Support parentalinvolvement at school: discuss with your child’s teacher how t support your chld.
• Read with your children at home.
• Monitor teachers to know that they are present and arrive on time.
• Create and support Women Pressure Groups.

• Support literacy in Mother Tongue Language to ensure improved thematic learning and later use of English.
• Support Early Childhood Reading from the cradle onward.
• Ensure that all students ATTEND school and arrive ON TIME.
• Ensure that students are well-fed, since nutrition is a full partner in learning.
• Avoid pulling children from school for farming activities or sibling care.
• Support parentalinvolvement at school: discuss with your child’s teacher how t support your chld.
• Read with your children at home.
• Monitor teachers to know that they are present and arrive on time.
• Create and support Women Pressure Groups.

Life Transformed

The power of literacy training and supporting education for women and girl-children is evident in the ways it transformed life for Agnes Lawino’s family. Lawino, a twenty-five year old mother and adult learner at a LABE founded Literacy Class at Likai Primary School has transformed the life of her family. her newfound literacy allows her to properly change money, read and write with her children, manage an IGA for twenty-eight other members, borrow money, meet her household needs, and buy uniforms, books and other school supplies for her children.

Make no mistake, however, in thinking that education happens only within the walls of a school. Real education, for the betterment of not only the mind and the body, but also the spirit -happens from the cradle to the grave and is the result of every word, action, inaction, and choice.

ENDS

References

1. Girl Child Education (GCE): A statement of FACTS by Dr. Osita Excellence O. Oleribe. President, Anti-Child abuse Society of Africa (ACSA), Abuja, Nigeria; being a paper presented at NYSC/ACASA organized community awareness campaign on Girl Child Education in Katcha LGA, Niger state, Nigeria. (www.crin.org/dics/Girl%20Child%20Education.doc)

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