Girls' Education
UNICEF works with partners to ensure that girls stay in school and learn
Challenge
A lot of progress has been made in closing the gap between girls and boys when to comes to education. Gender disparities in school completion tends to be low in primary education but higher at the high school level.
Many girls do not have the chance to get an education mainly because of poverty, gender and long distances to school
The average number of years of education that the poorest girls from rural areas aged 20 to 24 can attain is about four years as compared to 13 years for girls from affluent homes in urban areas. Gender differences tend to become more significant at the secondary level even in the wealthiest households.
Solution
UNICEF works with partners to ensure that education professionals receive gender training and continue to address barriers to pave a clear way for girls of Ghana to make progress in basic education, especially till junior high school. There is also growing focus on reaching girls at the senior high school with a focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and skill development.
UNICEF is actively working on reforming school curriculums so that issues of equity, gender and inclusion are adequately embedded in them.
Teachers are also being trained to demonstrate professional competence in gender issues and creating a teaching workforce that meets the needs of disadvantaged girls and boys – are also being worked on.
UNICEF and partners work to promote ‘safe schools’ and a gender responsive environment through availability of tools, resources and training to address inclusion, corporal punishment, school-related gender-based violence and menstrual hygiene management.