Making a Difference for Children: Girls’ Education

Time for action, time for school!

In many parts of Turkey children continue to be kept from school, and this is especially true for girls. Although the population is divided equally between the sexes there is, by tradition, a divide of gender inequality in both public and private family life. Cultural and patriarchal family structures tend to prioritise the needs of men and boys over girls and women -- even amongst women and girls themselves. Economic hardship also means that many parents view survival as the main priority and the harsh necessity of scraping a living forces many to coopt their children as additional labour resources in order to augment income.

Because there is an enrolment gap of 600,000 between boys and girls, Turkey is one of twenty-five countries which UNICEF has selected for extra attention in a drive to accelerate progress towards the goal of gender parity in basic education.

The Situation

• The primary obstacle to girls’ education in some provinces is a shortage of schools and classroom space.
• Many children have long distances to travel -- in the ten worst provinces, 57,000 go to school by bus everyday, just over 15,500 of whom are girls and attendance figures drop during winter as heavy snows close the roads.
• Another 52,000 children who live far from school need to board and parents find it hard to send children away to school. The poor physical state of many existing schools, particularly the lack of toilets and running water, also put families off enrolling their children.
• Many families do not view girls education as being very important. Early marriage is more of a priority and many are kept at home to help with household chores.
• Although a third of teachers are women, most are assigned to the cities and towns and the absence of female role models in villages means that there is little to stir the aspirations of girls.
• Families who want to educate their children find that opportunities for secondary level education are relatively scarce -- even the compulsory eight years primary education is problematic since many village schools only teach up to the fifth grade and the enforced drop-out of students beyond fifth grade adds to ‘out of school’ statistics.

The Action

• Gender equality in primary school enrolment will be achieved by the end of 2005 through the provision of quality basic education for all girls in fifty-three provinces where the schooling rate of girls is lowest.
• More schools will be provided to meet demand.
• Awareness of the importance of girls’ education will be raised at central, provincial and community levels.
• All sectors will be mobilised to promote and ensure girls education.

The Difference

• Gender disparity in primary education will be eliminated in fifty-three provinces.
• The number of children who are ‘out of school’ will be reduced.
• Fewer children will be required to travel long distances or to board.
• The focus on girls’ education will make the issue a medium for social change.
• Girls and women in traditional communities will be more empowered by the change in attitudes to their education.
• Educated girls will be healthier, marry later and have fewer but healthier children.
• Child labour will be reduced since more girls will be at school.

Use the ‘Support Us’ link at the foot of this page to make an online tax-free donation to the Turkish National Committee for UNICEF now. Alternatively, you can make a credit transfer through your bank to Türkiye İş Bankası, Çankaya Branch, Ankara, Branch No. 4238, Account No. 500.

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