Say Yes, Autumn 2002: Back to School
Every child deserves a quality education.
Photograph by Rana Mullan © UNICEF Turkey 2002
The Summer is over and children almost everywhere are going back to school. In Turkey, sixteen million children resumed studies on the sixteenth of September. However, there are many who didn’t and most of those are girls. Economic hardship and the traditional view that a girl’s education is unimportant are major factors. The latest figures from Research Planning and Coordination at the Ministry of National Education (MONE) show that the schooling rate for women is 85.4%.
This year, more than ninety-five million signatures were collected globally by Say Yes for Children and subsequently delivered to the United Nations Special Session on Children (UNSSC) demonstrating the popular desire for A World Fit for Children. Turkey submitted sixteen million of those signatures -- the highest number per capita of any population in the world -- a tremendous measure of the weight of popular support for the Campaign’s objectives in this country.
Accordingly, world leaders renewed their commitment to create A World Fit for Children during the UNSSC.
Among the ten imperatives of the campaign, Educate Every Child was identified as the top priority in Turkey as well as being the top global priority. It is easy to conclude from this that worldwide, commitment to education is stronger today than it has ever been: education is seen to be the key to human development, poverty reduction and the promotion of peace. However, for millions of children who are still denied their right to a quality education, this commitment remains to be proven.
UNICEF's work is geared towards ensuring that all children realise this right and that each child has the opportunity to develop to his or her full potential. For UNICEF, girls’ education is a top priority. Our goal is quality education for all children, and we believe that a focus on girls is the best way to reach that goal
said Edmond McLoughney, the UNICEF Country Representative.
The collateral benefits of ensuring that girls receive an education reach far beyond the immediate benefits to the girls themselves:
- Educated females have greater opportunities and life choices. They have a greater voice in family and community affairs and are more likely to participate in political, social and economic decision making.
- Educated girls are more likely to marry and have children at a later age -- because they choose to.
- An educated girl will have a better chance at finding a job and contributing to the family's economy, benefiting individual and household earnings, and helping to stimulate economic growth.
- Educated mothers are more likely to send all their children, both boys and girls, to school.
- Educated girls tend to have fewer and healthier children -- child mortality rates drop.
- Educated girls have healthier pregnancies, reducing maternal mortality rates.
In UNICEF’s experience, this focus on girls has proven to be at least as beneficial to boys as well. Calling all parents to take action now, Mr McLoughney said that it is our responsibility as mothers, fathers, teachers, imams, politicians, and for people in authority at all levels to make sure that girls enroll in schools and complete their compulsory education
.
Read more about UNICEF Turkey’ work with MONE on Girls’ Education in our Programmes section. Say Yes for Children was featured in the February 2002 issue of our newsletter. Read how the FIFA/UNICEF Alliance will support girls’ education in Pure Football, Pure Hope, Say Yes, July 2002.
Previous page
|
Next page
Skip to the page footer menu or select an item from this list ▼
SAY YES, AUTUMN 2002
Download this issue in pdf format. [PDF 614KB]
* How to use RSS …