Keeping the Promise: Five Benefits in Girls’ Secondary Education

May RihaniSenior Vice President and Director

Academy for Educational Development

October 2007

Why focus on post primary? Quick statistical overview

• Huge gains in primary enrollment, reaching a world average of 83.8 percent in net primary enrollment

• However, large numbers do not continue on to secondary school– The rate of secondary enrollment drops to 59.3

percent– In sub-Saharan Africa, only 17 percent of girls are

enrolled in secondary school

Sub-Saharan Africa, where 25% or fewer girls are enrolled in secondary school, 2002/2003

Sources: UNESCO Global Education Digest, 2005, and EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2006

Barriers and challenges: Why fewer girls?

• Economic constraints: The direct financial cost plus the “opportunity cost,” in particular for rural girls

• Cultural constraints: Distance and safety concerns

• Educational constraints– Only the best-performing children are allowed to continue– Lack of adequate number of female teachers, which impacts

the participation of girls

• Inequity constraints: Girls face behavioral inequities in the classroom and a lack role models

Why investing in girls’ secondary education is imperative

• Primary education’s benefits are not sufficient to move nations socially and economically forward in a meaningful way

• Given globalization, benefits of primary education are a necessary but not sufficient condition

• The benefits of secondary education enable girls to make a quantum leap in terms of their social roles, decision making, and empowerment

What are these benefits?

Main benefits of girls’ secondary educationI. HEALTH

• Girls’ secondary education is related to infant mortality– Gender gaps are negatively related to children’s

mortality (Where only half as many girls as boys go to school, 21 more children die per 1,000, Hill and King, 1995)

– Infant mortality is one quarter lower where girls are educated as much as boys (Klasen, 1999)

• Secondary education is associated with delays of entry into reproductive life

Main benefits of girls’ secondary educationI. HEALTH (con’t)

• Postponement of marriage and reduction of family size– A study of Brazil finds that illiterate women have an average

of six children each, while literate women have an average of 2.5 children each (UNESCO 2000)

• Higher rates of children’s immunization– A multi-country study shows that educated mothers are about

50% more likely to immunize their children than uneducated mothers (Gage et al.,1997)

• Improvement in children’s and family nutrition

Secondary education is related to lower fertility rates and unwanted pregnancies

Girls’ secondary education and teen birthrates for selected countries, 1995

Gross secondary enrollment rates for girls Births per 1,000 girls, 15-19 years old

Source: Population Action International, 1998

Top seven countries in girls’ secondary education

Bottom seven countries in

girls’ secondary education

Secondary education is associated with lower children’s stunting

Gross % of girls enrolled in secondary school

Gross % of children younger than 5 with severe stunting

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

Burkino Faso

Burundi Chad Guinea Mozambique Niger Argentina Bahrain Barbados

Girls’ secondary education and severe stunting, selected countries

Countries with fewer girls in secondary school Countries with more girls in secondary school

Marriage, sexual relations, and parenting

Married by age 20

61

72

87 8792

85

95

5358

65

81

5660

72

24

3238

2925

19

43

0

25

50

75

100

Per

cen

t o

f w

om

en Ever had sex by age 20

72

88 9085

91

56

8287

68

86

78

41

6862

5460

55

0

25

50

75

100

Per

cen

t o

f w

om

en

Gave birth by age 20

4548

7370

77

68

81

3942

59

69

47

57

70

1420

31 28

18 18

35

0

25

50

75

100

Per

cen

t o

f w

om

en

No education

Primary education only

Secondary education only

Main benefits of girls’ secondary educationII. MITIGATION OF HIV/AIDS

• Half of the more than 40 million people living with HIV and AIDS are women and girls

• A 72-country analysis finds that where the literacy gap between boys and girls exceeds 25%, HIV prevalence exceeds 5% of the cited breakout level (Over, 1998)

• A study of Zambia finds that AIDS spread twice as fast among uneducated girls compared to educated girls (Vandermoortele & Delamonica, 2000)

Main benefits of girls’ secondary educationII. MITIGATION OF HIV/AIDS (con’t)

• Secondary school creates a valuable window of opportunity since it captures girls when self esteem and self confidence can be most important

• When secondary school introduces the “fourth R,” “Responsibility,” which includes life skills and relevant quality curriculum, then girls and boys can learn healthy behaviors

Main benefits of girls’ secondary educationIII. EDUCATION

• The existence of secondary schools in a catchment area tends to increase primary school enrollment and quality

• Ensuring that all students are within a reasonable distance of an affordable middle school increases parental commitment to schooling

• Parents’ involvement in school leads to higher quality education

Main benefits of girls’ secondary educationIV. SOCIAL BENEFITS

• Secondary education equips students with critical thinking skills, increasing civic participation and democratic change

• As students pursue secondary education, they are less likely to engage in or become victims of crime and youth violence

• Secondary education reduces the risk of human trafficking by increasing economic opportunities and making children less vulnerable to outside influences

Main benefits of girls’ secondary educationV. ECONOMIC BENEFITS

• Primary and secondary education can become a tool for poverty alleviation

• With secondary education, girls and women are empowered to access additional work opportunities

• Girls’ secondary education produces health benefits that have positive economic impacts on families

Main benefits of girls’ secondary educationV. ECONOMIC BENEFITS (con’t)

• Girls’ secondary education produces high returns in terms of wage growth

• According to a 100-country study by the World Bank, increasing the share of women with secondary education by 1 percentage point in a country boosts annual per capita income growth by 0.3 percentage points, on average

Vicious Cycle

Very low % ofgirls’ participation

in secondaryeducation

Heavy economicopportunity cost to

women and families

High infantand child mortality

Mothers with lowfunctional and

analytical literacy

Large numberof pregnancies

High materialmortality

Virtuous Cycle

High low % ofgirls’ participation

in secondaryeducation

Heavy economicopportunity cost to

women and families

Low infantand child mortality

Educated motherswith functional andanalytical literacy

Fewerpregnancies

Lower materialmortality/higher

economicproductivity

Women areempowered to

access additionalopportunities and are more

highly engaged in theircommunitiesand countries

Higher levelof socio-eco-

nomic developmentbecause all members of

society are educatedand engaged

Investment in Secondary Education

• The 2006 EFA Global Monitoring Report states that in 2002 developing countries spent 15.5% of total government expenditures on education

• 91.8% of total public educational expenditures were spent on primary education

• Two questions for consideration1. Should public expenditures on education be increased?

2. Should public expenditures on secondary education be increased?

THANK YOU

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