‘120m girls remain out of school worldwide’

A Non-Governmental organisation, the Malala Fund, has said nearly 120 million girls remain out of school worldwide, out of which 8. 5 million are adolescents.
The fund revealed this in its yearly report of activities from April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024, made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.

According to the report, girls, especially those in low-income countries, drop out of school at higher rates as they get older and transition to secondary school.

It said that there were barriers to girls’ access to education in Nigeria through its policies and budgets, thus frustrating their completion of 12 years of education.

“In Nigeria, barriers such as hidden school fees, policies that only guarantee nine years of free education and decreasing education budgets, keep girls from completing 12 years of school.

“Additionally, safety concerns loom large in schools with incidents of students kidnapping, and 44 per cent of adolescent girls reporting experiences of physical and sexual violence inflicted by teachers and or classmates,” it said.

According to the report, in addressing the situation, the fund and its partners advocate for legislative changes to ensure 12 years of free education for all Nigerian students.

We have pushed for the government to fulfill its commitment to allocating four per cent of Gross Domestic Product, and 22.5 per cent of the national budget to education by 2025.” We also support organisations that advocate for policies and deliver programmes to make schools safer for girls,” the group said.

The report listed factors that significantly restrict girls’ access to free, safe and quality education including reversal of progress on gender equality, strained education budget, and increased conflicts and climate shocks.

It stated that the fund invests in and builds a network of education advocates, champions holding leaders accountable, and helps to develop the next generation of future leaders.

Malala Fund said it had invested $56.2 million since it was established in 2013 and had reached more than 21 million students through the various programmes of its grantees. It also said that, over the last decade, it awarded more than 400 transformative grants to partners who were breaking down the barriers to girls’ education.

On her part, the Executive Chairman of the fund, Malala Yousafzai, noted that most governments were not spending enough finances on education, as the stakes could be higher. She said that in Afghanistan, Talibans had made girlhood illegal, banning girls from attending school past grade six for more than 1000 days.