Children First: Girls’ Education

Haydi Kızlar Okula! or Let’s Go to School, Girls!

The situation

Far fewer girls than boys attend primary school in Turkey. This gender gap in primary education has begun to decrease in recent years — especially in the lower grades — but large numbers of girls continue to drop out by the fifth and sixth grades. Some reasons why so many girls do not finish the full eight years of their primary education include:

• traditional attitudes that prefer early marriage and domestic roles over education for girls;
• many girls are kept at home to care for younger family members and help with domestic work;
• urban families keep girls from schools that are often over–crowded and under–resourced;
• rural families are especially unwilling to let older girls travel long distances to school by bus;
• low income families find it hard to meet the costs of transport, uniforms and stationery.

Low levels of educational attainment leave these girls unprepared for even the most basic domestic roles. For instance, rates of infant and child mortality, low birthweight, malnutrition, restricted growth and poor cognitive development are significantly higher amongst children when their mothers are poorly educated.

The implications are also far reaching for Turkey where 75% of working age women are not included in the registered labour force. Exclusion from basic education develops into a pattern of domesticity for a great many of the country’s female population as they reach adulthood — and the economy is deprived of valuable human resources as a result.

The solution

The UNICEF supported Haydi Kızlar Okula! girls’ education campaign has proven to be effective in raising public awareness and getting girls enrolled in primary education.

Prior to the campaign launch in 2003, public awareness of the issue was complacent at best or otherwise non–existent. In certain provinces, as many as 40% of girls were not attending school at all. Since then, Haydi Kızlar Okula! has been instrumental in helping to close Turkey’s gender gap in primary education in a variety of ways:

• research and analysis to identify major barriers to girls’ education and propose solutions;
• raising public awareness and support through television broadcasts and newspaper coverage;
• obtaining private sector funding to promote and support the girls’ education initiative;
• conducting advocacy campaigns for support at governmental, provincial and local levels;
• door–to–door advocacy by teachers, volunteers and NGOs to persuade parents to enroll girls;
• advocacy and support for cash benefits to help low income families cover educational costs.

The lack of classroom space both in urban and rural areas remains perhaps the most significant practical obstacle to getting girls into school. In tandem with advocacy activities, Haydi Kızlar Okula! aims to support girls’ enrolment in primary education by helping to supply extra classroom space where it is most needed in Turkey.

The activities

Pre–fabricated structures are a cheap and efficient solution to the need for additional classroom space in both urban and rural areas.

Haydi Kızlar Okula! aims to achieve this by:

• raising private sector funding support for pre–fabricated school buildings;
• identifying suitable sites for new school buildings — especially in low income areas;
• emphasising the importance of girls’ enrolment at each new school by raising public awareness and support for the school from the outset.

Haydi Kızlar Okula! will support the initiative by:

• raising private sector funding support for school–kits containing uniforms, sportswear, footwear, a school bag and stationery;
• providing school–kits to girls from low income families as an extra incentive to go to school;
• conducting intensive door–to–door advocacy with parents to support girls’ enrolment and attendance at the new schools.

The result

Increased classroom space — especially in low income rural areas — will help to:

• increase attendance rates for girls and reduce the gender gap in primary education;
• increase numbers of girls who have completed the full eight years of their primary education;
• empower girls and women in traditional communities through education;
• improve the health of girls who will marry later and have fewer but healthier children;
• reduce child labour since more girls will be attending school;
• provide a better–educated and more competitive workforce;
• promote the benefits of gender equality in all walks of life — urban and rural, professional and domestic;
• create an opportunity for positive change in the values and expectations of society as a whole.

For sponsors

Private sector involvement with Haydi Kızlar Okula! will demonstrate how businesses can help tackle serious social issues in a practical, innovative and immediate way.

National and international focus on the crucial issues of gender equality and girls’ education will bring reciprocal benefits in the form of public support for both Haydi Kızlar Okula! and sponsors.

The sponsor’s logo will be displayed on the sites of new schools which they have supported through Haydi Kızlar Okula! and school kits provided to girls will also bear the sponsor’s logo.

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Download the Girls’ Education brochure in pdf format [PDF 163KB] or alternatively download a zipped porfolio of the seven funding brochures [ZIP 1.8MB].

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