Press Centre 2005/05/12: Girls’ Education

Girls’ Education: The Best Return on State Investment

İstanbul, 12 May 2005 -- Girls’ education offers the best return on state investment, says the latest Progress for Children report from UNICEF, which was launched for the Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States and Baltic States (CEE/CIS) Region in Turkey today.

The Turkish Government is tackling this issue head on, said Maria Calivis, UNICEF Regional Director for CEE/CIS Region. It recognises that no other single investment can produce better returns and has shifted its focus and policies to get hundreds of thousands of girls into the classroom.

UNICEF is working closely with the Government of Turkey to achieve gender equality in primary school enrolment by the end of 2005. The national Girls’ Education Campaign, launched in 2003, has resulted in the enrolment of an additional 113,000 girls in the last two years. The government has introduced free text books for all primary school children and cash incentives for the poorest families on condition that they send their children to school -- with a higher amount paid for girls.

Despite this progress, almost 570,000 Turkish girls still miss out on education. The goal is to get another 300,000 girls into school in 2005, focusing on the 53 Turkish provinces where the enrolment rates for girls are lowest.

As Progress for Children shows, the benefits of girls’ education are beyond dispute, said Maria Calivis.

It reduces child and maternal mortality, boosts economic productivity, improves health and nutrition and protects girls from abuse, exploitation and HIV/AIDS. It is the most tangible and affordable step towards gender equality and is central to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

For Turkey, on the threshold of entry to the European Union, there can be no more cost-effective investment.

The regional picture

Progress for Children finds that most countries in the CEE/CIS Region are on track to meet the gender parity goal in primary education in 2005, with primary net enrolment/attendance ratios standing at around 88 per cent in 2001.

However, the regional average masks disparities between countries, with net enrolment/attendance ratios ranging from a high of 97.5 per cent in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, to a low of 76.2 per cent in Serbia and Montenegro. Average figures also mask disparities within countries, with the poorest children, children from ethnic minorities, children with disabilities and those in rural areas often falling through the educational net. Across the CEE/CIS Region, the poorest children are 1.6 times more likely to be out of school -- but they are five times more likely to be out of school in Moldova and Kazakhstan.

The global picture

The world has made impressive progress on gender equality in primary education. Some 125 out of 180 countries with available data are on course to reach gender parity by 2005. At the current rate of progress most countries in the Middle East, North Africa, East Asia, the Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean are on track to achieve universal primary education by 2015. At the other extreme, most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and many in South Asia won’t come close unless they greatly accelerate their rates of progress. Without dramatic progress in these countries, it will be impossible to reach the MDG of universal primary education by 2015.

Fundamental barriers to increased access to education include poverty, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, conflict, child labour, child trafficking and natural disaster, as well as low levels of maternal education. Some 75 per cent of children out of primary school in developing countries have mothers who did not go to school.

The report calls for:

• A radical shift in thinking and policies -- all countries must begin to view education as a fundamental human right, not as an optional add-on where budgets allow.
• A drastic increase in international aid for education -- the UN estimates that an extra USD 5.6 billion per year will be required to achieve universal primary education.

Read the full report online from UNICEF headquarters.

The Turkish version of the report can be read online or downloaded in pdf format from UNICEF Turkey. [PDF 1MB]

For more information:

Angela Hawke, Communication Officer, UNICEF CEE/CIS:
Tel: (+ 41 79) 601 9917

Lynn Geldof, Regional Communication Adviser, UNICEF CEE/CIS:
Tel: (+ 41 22) 909 5429

Sema Hosta, Communication Officer, UNICEF Turkey:
Tel : (+ 90 312) 454 1000 Mobile: (+ 90 533) 622 8346

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