GENDER AUDIT OF EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN ETHIOPIA, KENYA, MALAWI AND UGANDA
UNICEF
Eastern and Southern Africa Region (ESAR)
Nairobi - September 2007
Study Co-ordinators: Wycliffe Otieno Aster Haregot Yumiko Yokozeki
ii Table of Contents
Table of Contents...... ii
List of Tables and Figures...... iii
Abbreviations and Acronyms...... iv
Executive Summary...... vi
Part I: Background and Methodology...... 1
Part II: Gender Dimensions of Educational Participation in ESAR: A Review...... 8
Part III: Qualitative Country Summaries...... 36
A: Ethiopia...... 36
B: Kenya...... 46
C: Malawi...... 57
D: Uganda...... 68
References...... 90
List of Interviewees...... 93
iii List of Tables and Figures
Tables Table 1: Estimated NERs for the Age Group 6-11 and 12-17 by Region, 2002...... 8 Table 2: Gender Disparities in 19 African Countries, 2003...... 9 Table 3: ESAR Countries Where School Fees Still Exist...... 9 Table 4: Distribution of Countries by EDI Values, by region, 2002...... 10 Table 5: Countries by prospects for achieving gender parity in education...... 10 Table 6: Change in EDI and its components between 2003 and 2004...... 11 Table 7: Pre-Primary and Primary GER and GPI in ESAR and SSA, 2000 and 2005.....13 Table 8: NER in ESAR...... 14 Table 9: Repetition rate in ESAR, 2000 and 2005...... 15 Table 10: Survival Rate in Primary Education in ESAR...... 16 Table 11: Gender Parity and Primary Education...... 17 Table 12: Secondary GER, 2000 and 2005...... 19 Table 13: Secondary Net Enrolment Rates in ESAR, 2000 and 2005...... 20 Table 14: Percentage of Repeaters in Secondary, All Grades...... 21 Table 15: Gross Intake Rate and Net Intake Rate, ESAR Countries, 2000 and 2005...... 22 Table 16: Out of School Children in ESAR...... 23 Table 17: Female Students by level of education in ESAR...... 25 Table 18: Percentage of Trained Teachers in ESAR, 2000 and 2005...... 26 Table 19: PTRs and Percent of Female Teachers...... 27 Table 20: Performance in Examinations, SACMEQ I and II Results...... 29 Table 21: Public Education Spending: Overall and per pupil (%), 2000 and 2005...... 33 Table 22: ESAR Countries by Financing Gap Required to Meet EFA by 2015...... 34 Table 23: Ethiopia Higher Education Entrance Examinations Results, 2005...... 40 Table 24: KCPE Raw Mean Score by Gender and Subject, 2002 - 2005...... 52 Table 25: Selected Primary Education Indicators, 2006...... 64 Table 26: Malawi Primary School Leaving Examinations, 2002 - 2005...... 65 Table 27: Malawi School Certificate Examinations (MSCE), 2002 – 2005...... 65 Table 28: Selected Primary Education Indicators...... 77 Table 29: SEC school GER and NER, 2005...... 78
Figures Figure 1: The Child Friendly School (CFS) Framework Error: Reference source not found Fig. 2: Percent of Sixth Grade Students without Books in 14 ESAR Countries (2000) ...... Error: Reference source not found
iv Abbreviations and Acronyms
AARI - Average Annual Rate of Increase ABE/NFE - Alternative Basic Education/Non Formal Education AfDB - African Development Bank AGEI - African Girls’ Education Initiative AIDS - Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome BTVET - Business, Technical Vocational Education and Training CCTs - Conditional Cash Transfers CFS - Child Friendly Schools (framework) CPAP - Country Program Action Plan CRC - Convention on the Right of the Child CSA - Central Statistical Authority DFID - Department for International Development E.C - Ethiopian Calendar ECD - Early Childhood Development EDI - EFA Development Index EFA - Education for All EFAG - Education Funding Agencies Group EMIS - Education Management Information System ESAR - East and Southern Africa Region ESCC - Education Sector Consultative Committee ESDP - Education Sector Development Plan FAWE-K - Forum for African Women Educationalists, Kenya Chapter FAWEMA - Forum for African Women Educationalists, Malawi Chapter FAWEU - Forum for African Women Educationalists, Uganda Chapter FGM - Female Genital Mutilation FPESP - Free Primary Education Support Program FTI - Fast Track Initiative FY - Financial Year GEI - Gender Education Index GER - Gross Education Rate GIR - Gross Intake Rate GOM - Government of Malawi GPI - Gender Parity Index GTZ - German Technical Cooperation Agency HICS - Household Income and Consumption Survey HIV - Human Immunodeficiency Virus KCPE - Kenya Certificate of Primary Education KCSE - Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education KESSP - Kenya Education Sector Support Program KNEC - Kenya National Examinations Council MDGs - Millennium Development Goals MK - Malawian Kwacha MoE - Ministry of Education MoES - Ministry of Education and Sports
v MoEVT - Ministry of Education and Vocational Training MoWCD - Ministry of Women and Child Development MoYS&C - Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture MTSP - Medium Term Strategic Plan MPRSP - Malawi Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper NER - Net Enrolment Rate NESP - National Education Sector Plan NPA-OVC - National Plan of Action on Orphans and Vulnerable Children PASDEP - Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to End Poverty PLCE - Primary School Leaving Certificate Examination PLE - Primary Leaving Examination PPET - Post Primary Education and Training PTRs - Pupil Teacher Ratio SACMEQ - Southern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality SFAI - School Fee Abolition Initiative SIP - School Improvement Plan SSA - Sub Saharan Africa SWAps - Sector Wide Approaches TPR - Textbook Pupil Ratio TSC - Teachers’ Service Commission TTC - Teacher Training College UBOS - Uganda Bureau of Statistics UIS - UNESCO Institute of Statistics UNDG - United Nations Development Group UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation UNHCR - United Nations’ High Commission for Refugees UNICEF - United Nations’ Children’s Fund UPE - Universal Primary Education UPPET - Universal Post Primary Education and Training
vi Executive Summary
Part I: Introduction and Methodology This report is the outcome of a gender audit commissioned by UNICEF in the ESAR countries to track the progress being made in achieving the gender equality goals set out in both Jomtien and Dakar meetings. It was implemented in three phases. The first step entailed refining a Gender Audit Tool that was to be completed by a selected first batch of countries in the region: Ethiopia, Kenyan, Malawi and Uganda. The second stage involved a general review of the progress that all countries in ESAR have made in improving participation in education between 2000 and 20007. The review constitutes Part II of this report. Upon completion of the review, visits were made to the selected countries for interviews with Ministry of Education officials, UNICEF staff and stakeholders from other agencies such as international organizations, development partners, local NGOs and CBOs. Brief country summary reports were prepared based on observations, interviews and review of documents. The summaries comprise Part III of this report.
Part II: Gender Dimensions of Educational Participation in ESAR: A Review Pre-Primary and Primary Education Five features are discernible from the available statistics on pre-primary and primary education. First, compared to the rest of the continent, ESAR countries are doing better. The statistics are either the same as or better than those for the continent, and, in some cases, by a reasonably big margin. Second, the GPI for pre-school is better than primary, even though both have remained constant in ESAR. Third, for countries where data is available, it is encouraging to observe that not a single one records a decline in GPI. Notably, Ethiopia had a 20% gain in primary GPI between 2000 and 2005. Fourth, Mauritius remains a best example in ESAR: data is available on all aspects of participation, and it has a GPI of 1.0 for both pre-school and primary, which has not changed over the five year period.
Primary NERs range from a low of 42.4 % for Eritrea in 2005 to a high of 95.4% for Seychelles, more than double. The disparities between countries are therefore stark. But there is some progress, as even countries with low female NERs in 2000 such as Ethiopia have registered reasonable progress, increasing by 23 percentage points to 54.6. Notably, though, the pace of change is slow. The NERs for the rgion of 70.7% imply that up to 30% of school going age children are out of school.
Secondary participation trends by gender Just like in pre-primary and primary education, ESAR performs better than the rest of the continent. The GPI in 2005 is worse than it was in 2000, declining from 0.9 to 0.8. Only a few countries have had a GER of over 50% (Botswana, Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles and South Africa). In 2005, only Mauritius has a GPI of 1.0. Some countries have also regressed, e.g. Eritrea, which has reduced from 0.7 to 0.6. A few countries had higher female GERs than total GER in 2000, e.g. Botswana. The trend of low NERs in the region is evident at the secondary level, where on average, the NER is about 37.2% (total) and 34.2% (female). Overall, the region recorded a decline in secondary NER GPI
vii from 1.0 to 0.8, though this is still better than the overall African performance in 2000. Whereas Mauritius, Uganda and Ethiopia retained GPIs of 1.0, 0.9 and 0.6 respectively, Eritrea declined from 0.8 to 0.7 over the period. It is not clear how the other countries performed over the period for lack of data, but there is reason to be concerned that there has not been much improvement in NER in the region.
Teachers Though data is not available for all countries, there is an increase in the proportion of trained teachers in the region. Significantly, the proportion of trained female primary teachers increased from 76.2% in 2000 to 89.6% in 2005, an increase of 23.4 percentage points. At the secondary level, the proportion declined by 2.5 percentage points to 72.2%. The decline may be attributed to either of two factors. One is that while a good number of women qualify for training in primary teacher training colleges, those that obtain the necessary qualification for entrance to secondary teacher training colleges (normally a diploma which requires higher secondary qualification) is low. Not many women therefore graduate with the necessary qualification to join these colleges. The other alternative explanation is that the opportunities for women are just limited, even where they qualify. This is highly probable in systems where there are no gender sensitive or affirmative action policies to empower women.
Other than the wide variation between countries, PTRs in ESAR have deteriorated. Fewer teachers are handling an increased number of pupils in 2005 compared to 2000. In Ethiopia for instance, there was one teacher for every 64 primary school pupils in 2000 but the same teacher was handling 72 pupils in 2005. In ESAR, the ratio also reduced increased from one teacher for every 43 pupils in 2000 to one teacher for every 50 pupils in 2005. The increased load reflects increased enrolment and lack of or reduced teacher recruitment. This is probably because of the pressure exerted by teacher costs in the national education budgets, which in some cases such as Kenya constitutes a high of 88% (Kenya, 2007c). Countries that have not registered any change like Eritrea may be experiencing serious problems in increasing enrolment.
Performance in examinations Results of tests administered by the Southern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) reveal major differences between girls and boys. In SACMEQ I, girls performed poorer than boys in all countries by an average of four percentage pints. The only exception is Mauritius that consistently record better performance by girls, even in participation. In SACMEQ II, girls in the region performed better than boys in reading by a remarkable difference of 12 percentage points. The only countries where boys performed better than girls in reading are Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia (only marginally). On the other hand, boys outperform girls in mathematics by an average of five percentage points. There are a few exceptions where girls performed better than boys. These are Mauritius, Lesotho, Seychelles and South Africa.
The Policy Front: Education SWAps and Gender Policies SWAps exist in at least seven ESAR countries: Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Lesotho, Kenya, Mozambique and Malawi. In Ethiopia, a SWAp and has been in place
viii since 1997. The active participation of donors and community has been instrumental in improving the education sector. Effective implementation of a SWAp is limited by the lack of knowledge on the precise number of donors and what they do. In Kenya, the SWAp process is helpful to the extent of recognizing gender as one of the main investment programs. KESSP provides an intervention for the girl child education through improvement of sanitation – including the provision of sanitary materials. Having developed the Policy and Investment Framework in 2001, Malawi is currently finalizing the National Education Sector Plan (NESP) that covers the period 2007 – 2016. In Uganda, the current Education Sector Strategic Plan (2004-2015) and its predecessor (1998-2003) provide the framework for sector wide approach in education in Uganda. Even though a SWAp is in place, there are concerns that a number of partners still engage in the project mode, and sometimes, there are multiple studies and projects being implemented by partners independently. However, there has been progress, e.g. agreeing on targets, indicators, joint monitoring and evaluation together, among others.
All countries in the region have endeavored to put in place national gender polices from which education sector gender policies have been or are being designed. The Uganda Gender Policy provides the framework for redressing gender imbalances, is a guide to other development practitioners, and provides the framework for the development of sector specific gender policies. The policy sets priority areas of action at the national, sectoral, district and community levels. Its ultimate objective is to “evolve a society that is both informed and conscious of gender and development issues and concerns”. In Ethiopia, the Women’s National Policy is now being changed to Gender Policy. It has also established a Gender and Equity Department in every ministry, and prepared a National Action Plan for Gender Equality (2006 – 2010). In the plan, every activity is budgeted complete with an implementation matrix. There are specific indicators for health, education, roads, agriculture, mining, etc. Most of the budget goes to these sectors. Kenya has a national gender policy that was approved by the Cabinet in 2006 and passed by Parliament the same year. The policy, Sessional Paper No. 6 of 2006 on Gender Equality and Development recognizes the importance of regulatory and institutional reforms in achieving equitable and sustainable development.
Complementarity: UNGEI and National Education Programs In supplementing the efforts of national policies and programs, UNICEF has partnered with FAWE and respective governments to synergistically work for the elimination of gender gaps and ensure successful completion of good quality education by girls and boys. Though all the four countries have the United Nations’ Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) task forces, Uganda has done better in ensuring that the task forces are established to the grassroots level to root for the girl child. In Kenya, UNGEI is focusing on children in ASAL (Arid and Semi-Arid) districts in northern parts of the country. Other activities implemented within the UNGEI framework include: Kenya: embedding gender in the education SWAp, using FTI funds to improve girls’ education, gender mainstreaming in education policies, conducting gender audits on national education policies, using GEM to empower girls
ix Uganda: conducting gender audits on national education policies, using GEM to empower girls, documenting best practices in girls’ education Malawi: conducting an evaluation study on SWAps in education, developing a SWAp Pack and mounting capacity building program, conducting gender audits on national education policies. Ethiopia: conducting gender audits on national education policies, developing gender sensitive education budgeting handbook, documenting best practices in girls’ education.
The girls’ education movement (GEM) is one of the strategies adopted by UNICEF to scale up the effective participation of girls in education. In all the countries, GEM is a partner in UNGEI playing a complementary role especially in mobilising and sensitizing the young people and other stakeholders at the local level. However, the effectiveness of GEMs in various countries differs. In Uganda, where UNGEI was launched in 2004, it has been rolled out at district level in order to create new sector wide partnerships, for instance, with the health sector. In some districts (e.g. Gulu, Amuru, Katakwi and Kaberamaido), UNGEI has been rolled out at the community level with many positive results since 2005. Child mothers have been able to return to school thanks to an initiative of UNGEI community groups (known as Camp Education Committees in Gulu and Amuru). UNGEI groups at district level are engaged in advocacy work e.g. initiating district ordinances in Kaberamaido, Gulu and Amuru. UNGEI has therefore helped to provide a vital link between schools and communities, and has largely been effective in galvanizing communities to support girls’ education.
Education Budgets – Extent of Funding for Gender Specific Programs Data on educational spending in the region is not engendered or disaggregated by gender. It is therefore difficult to determine how much is spent on the education of girls. It may be argued that there is no need to disaggregate data specifically by gender because per pupil spending gives a picture of equality in spending between girls and boys. While this is mostly true, and given credence by the fact that most primary schools are co- educational institutions, where the average spending per pupil is available, and if male pupils dominate in enrolment as is common in the region, the reverse argument that boys disproportionately benefit from public funding can be sustained. The picture however remarkably changes at the secondary level, where most boarding schools are single sex, but boarding schools are not the majority. In fact, secondary education in Africa tends to be the most expensive and inequitably accessed by girls and boys. Fewer girls in secondary schools points to the inequity in funding. However, the line of argumentation here is hypothetical and it is safe to conclude that so far, we do not have enough knowledge on the gender dimensions of public education spending.
x Part III: Qualitative Country Summaries
Ethiopia The Ethiopian government initiated an education reform program in 1997 that focuses on decentralization and standardization of the education sector service delivery system at all levels. The program is implemented under the Education Sector Development Program (ESDP). ESDP was designed to implement the Education and Training Policy (ETP) of 1994. The overriding goal of ESDP III is the production of citizens with the requisite skills and to meet the national development objectives at all of education (Ethiopia, 2006a). ESDP is anchored on improving five main pillars: quality, relevance, efficiency, equity and access. Special emphasis is given to primary education in rural and underserved areas, as well as the promotion of the education of girls (Ethiopia, 2005). ESDP I and II have lapsed, and the current one (ESDP III) covers the period 2005/06 to 2009/10.
ESDP III is candid in its assessment of the current status of education in Ethiopia, and objectively identifies the major challenges facing the sector. It also effectively articulates the policies and strategies to address them to enable Ethiopia achieve the MDGs. The strategies for its implementation include a strong emphasis on gender issues in a decentralized framework. Most of the implementation of education programs is vested in the Woredas. Being closer to the schools and the community, this approach should prove more effective in monitoring the progress of ESDP implementation.
Kenya The educational process in Kenya is about gaining lost ground. At the dawn of Jomtien conference in 1990, Kenya had attained a GER of 95% in primary education. The gains were to be wiped out by the implementation of cost sharing program in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The GER declined to a low of 76% (Deolalikar, 1999). The Dakar meeting was held against a backdrop of low enrolment at all levels, with more girls being out of school than boys. Strides have been made to equalize access especially at the primary level. The current policy environment is clear on addressing four challenges: access and equity, retention, relevance and quality. The policy framework is forthright on the challenges facing the sector, and recognizes gender inequality as a serious obstacle to the realization of the right to education and lost opportunities in human capital formation. As the country strives to recoup the lost opportunities, new targets are formulated for all levels of education. Sector objectives and strategies have clear statements that reflect commitment to gender mainstreaming at all levels and in all spheres.
But challenges remain. Girls trail boys in examinations and there is clear evidence of specialisation asymmetries in primary, secondary and university level. Affirmative action to increase participation of women is gaining political support at the macro level. Its implementation in education, particularly on headship of educational institutions (schools and other important national institutions), though largely progressing well, still confront the challenge of male domination.
xi Malawi Much of the progress in achieving gender equity is due to the interventions by development partners, notably UNICEF. The UNICEF supported schools have been able to enroll more girls than the public schools. The public system must therefore strive to achieve greater efficiency even without external support. Second, strategies to reduce drop out have been weak in both the public non UNICEF supported and the UNICEF supported schools. This is evidenced by the high drop out rates in the two categories of schools. Funding for education also increased by a significant 26.9% in 2003/2004 FY to MK 6.8 million of the total budget. Like most other African and developing countries, the bulk (80%) of this goes to salaries, leaving little for development.
The MPRSP has, as one of its main strategic components, human capital development that emphasizes education and health. At the primary level, it focuses on improving access and equity by emphasizing special needs and girls’ education. Equity is also emphasized at secondary level, alongside improvement in quality, relevance and management services in secondary education. 80% of women are illiterate.
Uganda Uganda has made major strides in the education sector. Primary education is free (and soon to be compulsory). The expected enactment of the Education Bill, 2007 that is currently before Parliament will be a major breakthrough in as it is expected to provide a legal basis for enforcing compulsory schooling. At the secondary level, a phased implementation of universal secondary education begun in January 2007. Evident political will has adequately supplemented the efforts of implementing agencies in the sector (ministry, development partners) resulting into a fairly vibrant implementation of education programs.
Gender remains an important area of focus. All policy documents and major stakeholder meetings give prominence to discussions of gender issues in education. However, there seems to be an implicit assumption that the current challenge centres on sustaining the gender parity in primary education at the PPET and tertiary education levels. Data does not show that there is equity in all aspects in these levels, though. Even at the primary level, equally important issues like improving girls’ and boys’ completion, reducing drop out, repetition and bridging the gap in achievement remains key challenges that do not come out very strongly in the policy reviews.
A National Gender Policy developed in 1997 has since been revised in 2007. The policy provides an important framework for redressing gender imbalances, is a guide to other development practitioners, and provides the framework for the development of sector specific gender policies. The draft education sector gender policy, while capturing the main gender issues in the sector, is not adequately aligned with the national gender policy. Being a draft nevertheless provides opportunities for further revision to provide a strong framework for the implementation of a gender sensitive and responsive education system.
xii Conclusion Much progress has been made by ESAR countries in facilitating the achievement of the gender specific EFA and MDG goals. Success has varied between countries. There are instances where some have regressed, and while others have made tremendous leaps. A common challenge to all countries is the need to look at all the MDGs holistically and not separately. Progress in achieving gender parity will be hardly realized when participation of women in public affairs, headship of important institutions and decision making process is limited.
Overall Recommendations a). Improving the education of girls: Three areas of focus Three measures seem to be standing out as needing specific and intense focus: a). strengthening education SWAps by entrenching the gender agenda; b). special attention to the excluded groups; and, c). improving the EMIS (including capacity strengthening). b). Strengthening Education SWAps and Entrenching Gender Mainstreaming Measures that may need to be taken here are three fold: i). introduce the approach where none exists; ii). strengthen SWAps where they are weak; and, iii). take advantage of the SWAp process to engender the entire education programs, specifically strengthening government technical capacity in gender mainstreaming c). Focus on the excluded To address the needs of the excluded, majority of whom are girls, governments should: Alter education policies and address discriminatory laws and administrative rules; Expand options for educating out of school children, especially girls; Improve quality and relevance of schools and classrooms by ensuring that excluded girls receive basic educational inputs and providing professional development to help teachers become agents of change; Support compensatory preschool and in-school programs that engage and retain excluded children, particularly girls; Create incentives for households help overcome both the reluctance to send girls to school and the cost of doing so (Lewis and Lockheed, 2006):
This recommendation does not overlook the role of other stakeholders. Scope exists for serious engagement of the development agencies/donors could in facilitating increased school attendance by the excluded groups through a variety of measures. d). Improving EMIS Countries must make efforts, and be supported, to maintain and up date a comprehensive data base for the entire education sector. To avoid the current fragmentation of sources and variations in data, here should be concerted efforts to make the data available from one complete source. The linkage and coordination between ministries of education and other departments need to be strengthened. A well functioning EMIS system will provide adequate information for planning and implementation of programs for the improvement of education and involvement of other stakeholders.
xiii xiv Part I: Background and Methodology
Introduction Ever since nations gathered in Dakar in 2000 to review the progress in meeting the goals of education for all as agreed in Jomtien in 1990, countries have put in substantial resources to improve their education systems. There has been a high degree of partnership between countries and international bilateral and multilateral institutions in bridging the resource gaps required to meet the agreed upon development goals. UNICEF is one of the partners that have been active in supporting education for all (EFA) initiatives worldwide. While substantial progress has been made, challenges remain. In particular, gender differences still characterize most education systems in developing countries, and especially in Africa. Improving the education of girls remains a priority area, as most countries record better participation and other indices for boys as opposed to girls.
This report is the outcome of a gender audit commissioned by UNICEF in the ESAR countries to track the progress being made in achieving the gender equality goals set out in both Jomtien and Dakar meetings. The Jomtien meeting set six goals, namely: a). Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on girls’ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality b). Ensuring that by 2015, all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete free an compulsory primary education of good quality c). Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to learning and life skills programs d). Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults e). Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills f). Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children
A review of progress one decade later at Dakar in 2000 came up with the following six resolutions. a) Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children; b) Ensuring that by 2015, all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality;
xv c) Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills program; d) Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults; e) Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality; and, f) Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills (UNESCO, 2002).
It became increasingly clear that achieving these goals would call for a radical shift in policy, reconfiguration of the funding regimes, greater collaboration between states and the non-state actors, more focus on gender specific interventions and specifically the education of girls, and. introduction of alternative and complementary modes in providing education, among other measures.
The adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) provided a further impetus to speed up the realization of internationally accepted targets in education. The MDGs that generally relate to education and gender are five, though only the first three are specific on education. a) Meet the development goal contained in the Millennium Declaration of achieving universal primary education, ensuring that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling. b) Provide all children, particularly those living in rural areas and those living in poverty, especially girls, with the access and opportunity to complete a full course of primary education. c) Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005, as provided in the Dakar Framework for Action on Education for All, and at all levels of education no later than 2015 to meet the development goals contained in the Millennium Declaration, with action to ensure, inter alia, equal access to all levels and forms of education, training and capacity-building by gender mainstreaming, and by creating a gender-sensitive educational system. d) Strengthen national and regional information, and statistical and analytical services relevant to sustainable development policies and programs, including data disaggregated by sex, age and other factors, and encourage donors to provide financial and technical support to developing countries to enhance their capacity to formulate policies and implement programs for sustainable development.
xvi e) Encourage further work on indicators for sustainable development by countries at the national level, including integration of gender aspects, on a voluntary basis, in line with national conditions and priorities.
A number of countries in Africa have adopted a series of reforms of their education systems to remove obstacles to the realization of these goals as well as build in system efficiency. At the broader macro level, the focus is increasingly being laid on access, quality, equity and relevance. Countries have therefore initiated national development plans, adopted sector wide approaches (SWAps) to addressing the systemic problems of the education system.
The current report endeavours to examine the extent to which countries have succeeded or are succeeding in meeting the internationally agreed upon targets. These targets to a great extent form the core of UNICEF Importance of Girls’ Education and partner countries’ programming in "Educating girls yields a higher rate of education. This effort requires a proper return than any other investment available orientation of policies, plans, programs, in the developing world."(L.H. Summers, projects and activities within an former Chief Economist of the World objective gender perspective. Bank (1992:7). Importantly, the processes put in place "Almost every other aspect of progress, in the implementation of policies and from nutrition to family planning, from programs (national strategies), as child health to women's rights, is evident in specific activities (actual profoundly affected by whether or not a execution of strategy), must be nation educates its girls" (Hadden 1996: gendered. Mainstreaming is therefore at 31). the core of achieving the internationally ‘ Girls’ education is “…one of the most accepted commitments and targets. The worthwhile investments available to governments.” (Abu Ghaida and Klasen volume of resources that countries 2002). commit to the education sector generally “Gender inequality in education is bad for and to gender mainstreaming in economic growth” (Dollar and Gatti particular become an important 1999). Source: www.worldbank.org parameter in judging the progress made by countries.
Methodology The gender audit was implemented in three phases. The first step entailed refining a Gender Audit Tool that was to be completed by a selected first batch of countries in the region. These are Ethiopia, Kenyan, Malawi and Uganda. Once the tool was developed, it was sent to the respective countries. The second stage involved a general review of the progress that all countries in ESAR have made in improving participation in education between 2000 and 20007. The main objective of this review was to contextualize the main country studies (and ESAR as a whole) within a comparative perspective of the rest of SSA and developing world using a gender analysis framework. Consequently, comparison is made throughout with the rest of the world, developing countries, Sub- Saharan Africa (SSA) and, where information is available, with other regions within SSA. The review focused on examining the impact of efforts made by countries in
xvii mainstreaming gender in their education systems. Data obtained for this review was gathered from a variety of sources. The bulk of statistical data is from the UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS), published and unpublished reports and websites of various organizations. It is hoped that the gaps identified, particularly data, will be filled once completed questionnaires are received from the country offices. The review constitutes Part II of this report.
Upon completion of the review, visits were made to the selected countries for interviews with Ministry of Education officials, UNICEF staff and stakeholders from other agencies such as international organizations, development partners, local NGOs and CBOs. During the visits, brief country summary reports were prepared based on observations, interviews and review of documents. The summaries comprise Part III of this report. The documents were mainly policy blueprints, UNICEF’s own program documents, literature on girls’ education, research reports and press reporting on gender and girls’ education. These are detailed in the reference section of this report.
Parameters of analysis. The major areas of interest in analysis of girls’ education employed in this review include access and participation (enrolment, repetition, drop out), transition, quality, policies (extent to which national policies identify girls’ issues as priority areas of intervention), etc. For the countries that have embraced education SWAps, the interest lies in the extent to which the SWAps identify and incorporate gender issues in the prioritization of interventions.
The MDGs listed above do not include early childhood education. The importance of ECD in providing an early start to learning and influencing the progression and performance of children in subsequent levels of education cannot be gainsaid. The MDGs alone do not therefore provide a sound framework for tracking the progress countries are making in improving basic education. A comprehensive framework that this review adopts include the EFA and Dakar targets, the MDGs and UNICEF’s own objectives as spelt out in the medium term strategic plan (MTSP). The MTSPs are translated into specific action plans and objectives at the country level and spelt out in the respective country program action plans (CPAPs).
The Analytical Frame Gender analysis provides the right framework for carrying out a gender audit of education systems. Most of the implementation of education in developing countries is premised on the internationally defined goals that have specific gender targets. Gender analysis is defined “as the collection and analysis of sex-disaggregated information. Men and women both perform different roles. This leads to women and men having different experience, knowledge, talents and needs. Gender analysis explores these differences so policies, programs and projects can identify and meet the different needs of men and women. Gender analysis also facilitates the strategic use of distinct knowledge and skills possessed by women and men” (United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) [www.unesco.org]). According to the World Bank Participation Source Book ( www.worldbank.org/wbi/sourcebook/), gender analysis focuses on understanding and documenting the differences in gender roles, activities,
xviii needs, and opportunities in a given context. Gender analysis involves disaggregating quantitative data by gender, and helps to: a) identify gender-based differences in access to resources to predict how different members of households, groups, and societies will participate in and be affected by planned development interventions, b) permit planners to achieve the goals of effectiveness, efficiency, equity, and empowerment through designing policy reform and supportive program strategies, and c) develop training packages to sensitize development staff on gender issues and training strategies for beneficiaries.
From the foregoing, the main purpose of gender analysis is to assess the progress in mainstreaming gender dimensions in the process of development. The process of mainstreaming requires integration of equality concerns in the conceptualization, analysis, formulation of policies, projects and programs with the objective of ensuring positive impact on women and men and in bridging existing gender disparities. The concept takes on board the inclusion of interest, needs, experiences and visions of women and men in the definition of development approaches, policies and programs and in determining the overall development agenda. Mainstreaming gender concerns requires deliberate and positive action to ensure improved results and development. Thus, gender analysis in education is a monitoring tool to check whether the world is on track to meeting the internationally agreed goals and targets.
Gender audit must be anchored on equity of access to and completion of quality education at all levels. A number of international initiatives to monitor educational quality have developed specific quality indicators, or defined quality with specific indicators as overridingi. UNICEF’s definition provides a framework for determining quality of education given the environment, the inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes. In brief, it embraces the following five parameters: a) learners who are healthy, well-nourished and ready to participate and learn, and supported in learning by their families and communities; b) environments that are healthy, safe, protective and gender-sensitive, and provide adequate resources and facilities; c) content that is reflected in relevant curricula and materials for the acquisition of basic skills, especially in the areas of literacy, numeracy and skills for life, and knowledge in such areas as gender, health, nutrition, HIV/AIDS prevention and peace. d) processes through which trained teachers use child-centred teaching approaches in well-managed classrooms and schools and skilful assessment to facilitate learning and reduce disparities. e) outcomes that encompass knowledge, skills and attitudes, and are linked to national goals for education and positive participation in society.
xix Quality education is offered within the framework of a child friendly school (CFS). In fact, the generic CFS model that UNCEF has developed offers an effective complement to the gender analysis framework. The CFS framework examines education systems from a comprehensive quality perspective, as it endeavours to integrate all aspects of learning within the school, in the immediate school environment/community, as well as at the policy level (Fig 1).
Figure 1: The Child Friendly School (CFS) Framework
CFS proactively seeks out-of-school children and encourages them to enroll, irrespective of gender, race, CFS ensures that all ability, social status etc. children can learn in a safe CFS promotes equality and and inclusive environment, equity in enrolment and through strong violence- achievement among girls and prevention policies and boys by eliminating gender innovative mechanisms stereotyping, guaranteeing allowing pupils to report gender -sensitive facilities, abuse. curricula, textbooks etc.
CFS encourages partnership CFS provides children with among communities, parents relevant knowledge and skills and children in all aspects of for surviving and thriving in the education process (through student governance bodies and life through enhanced CFS promotes the physical and clubs, school management classroom participation by emotional health of children by committees, parent-teacher pupils, and adoption of meeting key nutritional and associations etc.) interactive, child-centred, health care needs within schools gender-sensitive teaching and (such as de-worming, school learning methods. meals, immunisation, and vitamin A supplementation). Source: UNICEF
The six dimensions in the model (Figure 1) exert considerable influence in determining access, survival in the school system and the teaching and learning process. The degree
xx of influence they exert on the education of girls and boys varies. The gender analysis framework provides a prism or a lens through which to examine these differences. The examination should not treat the six dimensions as mutually exclusive; rather, they are mutually reinforcing. National policy frameworks provide the overarching focus in the realization of these dimensions. For instance, an effective school would depend, among others, on the national school curriculum and its implementation at the school level, teacher proficiencies and competencies, and resource availability. On the other hand, a community engaged school depends on the degree of decentralization in the management of education, and community empowerment through devolution and deconcentration of management responsibilities to the school level. Health promoting school can also only succeed on the broader framework of a national health policy. The CFS is therefore a composite model.
Consequently, the determinants of effective participation by girls and boys, are deeply captured and embedded in the CFS model. The role of the government, the school, the community, the impact of policy and management on access and participation, etc cannot therefore be studies in isolation as they are mutually reinforcing. For instance, the autonomy that schools have from the central authority determine the input that local community will have in the school system (in terms of resources and contribution to decision making as well as motivating their children to learn), the level of support they will give to their children and school administration, among others. Abagi (1997) summarises the factors in the CFS model above into three broad categories: educational policies and institutional processes, school based factors and household/community based factors.
xxi Part II: Gender Dimensions of Educational Participation in ESAR: A Review
Introduction Educational participation at all levels revolves around an examination of four variables: enrolment, participation (retention, repetition, drop out), completion and transition. Interest is on the actual indices, the factors explaining trends in the indices and interventions necessary or already put in place to remedy the situation. A major problem in this exercise is the paucity of accurate data, even where there are multiple sources. In other instances, the organization of that data is not helpful, either because of the clustering system of aggregation over a number of years. For instance, UNICEF’s own State of the World’s Children has good statistical tables but traditionally, the attendance/enrolment, household spending, adult literacy rates, etc, are aggregates of several years, on average five, but sometimes as long as seven years. This aggregation makes it impossible to compare levels of spending and participation rates, say, in 2000 with, for instance, 2007. Things are not made any easier by the inaccuracy of national Ministry of Education data, which are not grounded on sound EMIS systems. The only way to overcome this problem is to rely on other sources, such as the World Bank, UNESCO through its UIS, national policy documents, research reports by the civil society, individual researchers, etc. as will be evident, even these are on average two years behind.
Trends in Educational Participation: Global, SSA and ESAR Even though nations are making significant progress in advancing the education of girls, in some cases reaching up gross enrolment rate (GER) of up to 90% in low income countries, major challenges remain. In particular, net enrolment rates, a more precise measure, reveals the stark differences between Africa and the rest of the world, and girls and boys (Table 1).
Table 1: Estimated NERs for the Age Group 6-11 and 12-17 by Region, 2002 or Recent Date Region 6- 11 12 – 17 Males Females Males Females Sub-Saharan Africa 55.2 47.4 48.0 35.3 Arab States 83.9 71.6 59.2 47.1 Latin America/Caribbean 88.5 87.5 68.4 67.4 East Asia/Oceania 88.6 85.5 54.7 51.4 Southern Asia 84.3 65.6 50.5 32.2 Developed Countries 92.3 91.7 87.1 88.8 Source: World Bank (www.worldbank.org)
Statistics indicate that NERs are still low in most of the developing countries, and Africa lags behind in total participation rate, and disparities between girls and boys are highest in Africa.
A comparison of GER, intake, survival and completion rates for selected 19 countries in Africa also shows the magnitude of the challenge facing most African countries (Table 2)
xxii Table 2: Gender Disparities in 19 African Countriesii, 2003 Indicator GER (%) Intake rate in the Survival rate (%) Completion rate 1st year (%) Sample average 78.2 71.9 58.0 41.7 Boys 84.5 76.9 61.4 47.2 Girls 72.1 66.8 54.2 36.2 Difference (Boys-Girls) 12.4 10.1 7.2 11.0 Ratio (Girls/Boys) 0.84 0.87 0.88 0.77 Source: Mingat, 2003 as cited in Vespoor (2005).
The education of girls still trails that of boys. According to UNICEF (2007), for every 100 boys out of school, there are 115 girls, with the proportion of girls not likely to complete schooling standing at one for every five enrolled. Resource constraints continue to be a major limitation. Where there are school fees and other form of levies, participation tend to be low, and is worse for girls. The realization led UNICEF and the World Bank to launch the school fees abolition initiative (SFAI) in 2005. The objective of SFAI is to increase access to basic education and scale up progress to meet the MDGs and EFA targets for the next decade. School fees abolition is a powerful demand side response to increasing access. As a result of abolition of levies in primary school in Kenya in 2003, enrolment has increased from about 5.9 million to nearly 7.7 million, an increase of 30.5% in four years (Kenya, 2007).
The SFAI initiatives have not eliminated gender differences, neither have they ensured full enrolment for all children out of school. While financial obstacles are a major hindrance to participation, other non monetary factors remain a major hindrance to full enrolment and participation at all levels. Nevertheless, despite the global SFAIs, school fees still exist in various forms in many countries, including at least half of ESAR, even where there has been official declaration of free education (Table 3).
Table 3: ESAR Countries Where School Fees Still Exist Category ESAR countries in category Legal fees Burundi, Eritrea, Comoros, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland Illegal fees Ethiopia, Mozambique, Lesotho, Uganda Both types Kenya, Mauritius Summary based on Bentaouet-Kattan (2005) as cited in UNESCO (2006)
The continued existence of school fees in a number of countries, combined with the non- financial obstacles, the challenges facing ESAR is enormous. Country analysis on the prospects for achieving UPE by 2015 lists South Africa as the only ESAR country in the category. Lesotho and Mauritius are in the ‘high chance of achieving EFA’ category while Botswana, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe fall in the group of 44 countries not likely to achieve UPE by 2015 (UNESCO, 2006).
xxiii SSA Performance on EFA Development Index (EDI) Available evidence also demonstrates that SSA has the highest number of countries with the lowest EFA Development Index (EDI) which provides a measure of the progress countries are making in achieving EFA goal by 2015 (Table 4).
Table 4: Distribution of Countries by EDI Values, by region, 2002 Far from EFA: Intermediate Close to EFA: EFA achieved: Region EDI< 0.80 position: EDI EDI 0.95 – EDI 0.98 – 1.00 0.80 – 0.94 0.97 Sub-Saharan Africa 16 7 1 Arab States 5 10 1 Central Asia 2 1 2 East Asia and the Pacific 3 7 2 1 South and West Asia 3 1 Latin America/Caribbean 1 20 4 1 North America/West. Europe 1 7 8 Central and Eastern Europe 1 12 4 Total 28 49 28 16 UNESCO, 2006
SSA countries constitute more than half of all countries in Table 4 that have the lowest EDI. The proportion of African countries with the lowest EDI in the sample is 50%. The gender dimensions of likelihood of achieving MDGs and EFA targets in Africa are even more worrying. An analysis by UNESCO (2006) indicate that achievement of goal five of EFA (gender parity in primary and secondary education) is also at peril in a number of countries, even though an equally notable number has already achieved or are in the process of achieving the goal (Table 5).
Table 5: ESAR Countries grouped by prospects for achieving gender parity in primary and secondary education by 2005 and 2015 Gender parity in secondary education No. Achieved in 2002 Likely to be Likely to be At risk of not of countries achieved in achieved in achieving goal by 2005 2015 2015 n
o Achieved in 2002 Mauritius, Kenya Botswana Rwanda, Uganda, i t
a Seychelles (4) Zimbabwe, Lesotho, c u
d (49) (4) Namibia, e (43) (100) y r
a Likely to be m i
r achieved in 2005 p
n (1) (1) (2) (5) (9) i
y Likely to be Zambia t i r
a achieved in 2015 (1) (1) (7) 9 p
r At risk of not Swaziland South Africa Burundi, Comoros, e
d achieving the goal Eritrea, Ethiopia, n e by 2015 (3) (4) Malawi, (31) G Mozambique (24) No. of countries 54 6 10 79 149 UNESCO (2006) Note: Where countries are shown in blue, enrolment disparities at the expense of boys are observed in secondary education
xxiv Some ESAR countries do not appear in the list, e.g. Angola, Somalia and Congo DRC Parentheses () include the total number of countries in the category, though only ESAR countries are highlighted
The 13 ESAR countries in Table 6 below are evenly distributed in the medium and low EDI categories. It is notable that all countries in the medium EDI category are in the South (the only exception being Lesotho and Mozambique), while all the Eastern countries are in the low EDI category. The negative change in EDI among most countries in this later category (4 out of 6) implies a regression. Compared to the former group of countries, only two (Mauritius and Lesotho) had negative changes in EDI, but they retain better participation indices than the countries in the former category that had positive changes in EDI. However, more countries in the medium EDI category had negative changes in their GEI than the low EDI group of countries, even though the magnitude of change is marginal. The negative change in GEI for Eritrea is particularly worrying. At 3.7%, it is more than twice that of the combined change in three countries in the medium EDI category that recorded a regression. Whereas countries that have low change in GEI already have favourable gender equity indices, Eritrea’s case stands out negatively because it also has some of the most unfavourable gender participation indices in the region.
Table 6: Change in EDI and its components between 2003 and 2004 Change in the EDI constituents between 2003 and EDI 2004 (% in relative terms) Variation Total Adult Gender- 2003- primary literacy specific Survival rate Countries 2003 2004 2004 NER1% rate % EDI (GEI) to grade 5 Medium EDI Countries Mauritius 0.943 0.936 -0.7 -2.1 0.1 -0.5 0.0 South Africa 0.840 0.888 5.7 -0.5 0.0 0.3 29.9 Botswana 0.859 0.885 3.0 3.8 2.9 1.5 4.1 Namibia 0.883 0.853 -3.4 -5.9 0.0 -0.7 -6.9 Zambia 0.748 0.829 10.8 15.7 0.2 -0.5 28.4 Swaziland 0.810 0.826 1.9 1.9 0.5 0.8 4.8 Low EDI Countries Lesotho 0.817 0.797 -2.4 0.0 1.0 0.9 -13.1 Kenya 0.731 0.797 8.9 13.9 0.0 0.5 27.6 Rwanda 0.715 0.686 -4.0 -15.6 1.5 2.4 -1.7 Burundi 0.653 0.646 -1.1 -0.5 0.7 2.1 -6.7 Eritrea3 0.652 0.644 -1.2 5.9 4.9 -3.7 -6.9 Mozambique3 0.543 0.599 10.4 28.4 8.3 4.6 0.0 ESAR 0.766 0.782 2.3 3.7 1.7 0.6 5.0 Source: EdStats, based on Annex, Statistical Tables 2, 5, 7 and 8; UNESCO (2005); UNESCO Institute for Statistics database; Notes: 1. Total primary NER includes children of primary school age who are enrolled in either primary or secondary schools. 2. The adult literacy rate is a proxy measure based on educational attainment, that is the proportion of the adult population with either no or incomplete primary education. 3. Adult literacy rates are non-publishable UIS estimates generated in July 2002, using the UIS previous Assessment Model.
xxv 4. The NER in primary education is not published in the statistical tables as the reported number of pupils of official primary school age is believed to be under-estimated. However, in order to calculate EDI, an estimate of the total primary NER has been made.
The GEI for ESAR is only 0.6, which indicates high disparity in favour of boys, despite the prediction by UNICEF in 2003 that 12 countries in the region would have achieved the gender parity goal by 2005.
Failure of achievement is not limited to Africa; some developed countries such as the UK are also at risk of not achieving the goal by 2015, and are in the same category with Lesotho and Namibia. In all instances, the challenge of achieving the EFA goal of gender parity is increasing the enrolment of girls. Some countries have better enrolment rates for girls than boys, but even then, the gender disparity is still evident in the type of schools girls attend, access to resources, teaching and learning materials and other facilities and performance in the main exit examinations. Higher access in terms of numbers does not therefore necessarily translate to quality learning. In a majority of cases where girls outnumber boys in enrolment, it is only in lower levels. When they proceed to higher levels, boys have the upper hand. In post secondary education is skewed in favour of boys who take up most of the places and substantially higher proportions in the sciences and technological fields of study.
Record of progress: Dawn of Dakar to 2007 A comparison of the enrolment and participation situation in most countries in 2000 and current situation should give an indication of the progress that countries have made in achieving the EFA targets set out in Dakar, as well as the MDGs.
Pre-Primary and Primary Education Table 7 presents a summary of pre-primary and primary GER and GPI in ESAR countries and the SSA average between 2000 and 2005.
xxvi Table 7: Pre-Primary and Primary GER and GPI in ESAR and SSA, 2000 and 2005 Total Pre- Pre-primary GPI for Pre- Total Primary Primary GPI for Data primary GER Female GER Primary GER GER Female GER Primary GER Year 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 Angola ------Botswana ------102.2 - 102.3 - 1.0 - Burundi 0.8 - 0.8 - 0.9 - 60.8 - 54.1 - 0.8 - Comoros 1.7 - 1.8 - 1.1 - 84.2 - 77.3 - 0.9 - DR Congo 0.8 - 0.8 - 1.0 ------Eritrea 5.6 11.9 5.4 12.1 0.9 1.0 62.1 64.1 55.8 57.2 0.8 0.8 Ethiopia 1.5 2.2 1.5 2.1 0.9 1.0 63.4 93.4 50.8 86.1 0.7 0.9 Kenya 44.7 - 44.9 - 1.0 - 97.7 - 97.0 - 1.0 - Lesotho 21.7 - 21.9 - 1.0 - 119.6 - 121.8 - 1.0 - Malawi nil - nil - nil - 139.0 - 136.2 - 1.0 - Mauritius 95.9 95.5 97.2 95.9 1.0 1.0 105.3 102.2 105.2 102.3 1.0 1.0 Mozambique nil - nil - nil - 74.2 - 63.9 - 0.8 - Namibia 21.6 - 23.4 - 1.2 - 101.9 - 102.8 - 1.0 - Rwanda 2.4 - 2.4 - 1.0 - 101.8 - 100.1 - 1.0 - Seychelles 102.5 - 102.7 - 1.0 - 118.1 - 117.9 - 1.0 - Somalia nil - nil - nil ------S. Africa 31.0 - 31.2 - 1.0 - 106.7 - 104.3 - 1.0 - Swaziland nil - nil - nil - 100.4 - 97.5 - 0.9 - Uganda 4.0 - 4.0 - 1.0 - 127.3 117.5 123.6 117.3 0.9 1.0 Tanzania - 28.7 - 28.9 - 1.0 66.0 106.0 65.6 104.1 1.0 1.0 Zambia ------74.7 - 72.1 - 0.9 - Zimbabwe 40.9 - 41.4 - 1.0 - 98.1 - 96.5 - 1.0 - ESAR 26.8 34.6 27.1 34.8 1.0 1.0 94.9 96.6 91.8 93.4 0.9 0.9 SSA 10.0 - 9.9 - 1.0 - 81.8 - 75.7 - 0.9 - Source: UIS website (2007)
Five features are discernible from the table above. First, the figures suggest that compared to the rest of the continent, ESAR countries are doing better. The statistics are either the same as or better than those for the continent, and, in some cases, by a reasonably big margin. Second, the GPI for pre-school is better than primary, even though both have remained constant in ESAR. However, some individual countries have had at least a ten percentage point increase in 2005 over 2000. Third, for countries where data is available, it is encouraging to observe that not a single one records a decline in GPI. Notably, Ethiopia had a 20% gain in primary GPI between 2000 and 2005. Fourth, Mauritius remains a best example in ESAR: data is available on all aspects of participation, and it has a GPI of 1.0 for both pre-school and primary, which has not changed over the five year period.
The NER is low in ESAR countries and Africa in general (Table 8).
xxvii Table 8: NER in ESAR Total Pre- Female Pre- GPI for NER Total Primary Female GPI for DATA primary NER primary NER Pre-Primary NER Primary NER Primary NER YEAR 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 Angola ------Botswana ------79.6 - 81.3 - 1.0 - Burundi ------43.3 - 39.4 - 0.8 - Comoros ------55.1 - 50.5 - 0.8 - DRC ------Eritrea 4.4 8.5 4.3 8.8 0.9 1.1 40.9 46.0 37.9 42.4 0.9 0.9 Ethiopia ------36.1 56.3 31.6 54.6 0.8 0.9 Kenya ------66.8 - 67.7 - 1.0 - Lesotho ------81.6 - 84.7 - 1.1 - Malawi nil - nil - nil ------Mauritius 74.7 - 75.7 - 1.0 - 92.9 94.5 93.4 95.4 1.0 1.0 Mozambique ------55.5 - 49.9 - 0.8 - Namibia ------74.1 - 76.9 - 1.1 - Rwanda ------Seychelles 84.7 - 85.1 - 1.0 ------Somalia ------South Africa 16.6 - 16.7 - 1.0 - 90.4 - 90.6 - 1.0 - Swaziland ------76.1 - 76.4 - 1.0 - Uganda 2.5 - 2.5 - 1.0 ------Tanzania - 28.7 - 28.9 - 1.0 51.4 91.4 52.0 90.5 1.0 1.0 Zambia ------62.6 - 61.9 - 1.0 - Zimbabwe ------82.2 - 82.2 - 1.0 - ESAR 36.6 18.6 36.9 18.9 1.0 1.1 65.9 72.1 65.1 70.7 1.0 1.0 SSA ------57.2 - 54.3 - 0.9 - Source: UIS website (2007)
Though there is a problem with obtaining relevant data for countries, data on NERs seem to be the most scant, with five countries not having any data at all. Primary NERs range from a low of 42.4 % for Eritrea in 2005 to a high of 95.4% for Seychelles, more than double. The disparities between countries are therefore stark. But there is some progress, as even countries with low female NERs in 2000 such as Ethiopia have registered reasonable progress, increasing by 23 percentage points to 54.6. Notably, though, the pace of change is slow. The NERs for the rgion of 70.7% imply that up to 30% of school going age children are out of school.
Repetition rate in primary education Participation indices such as enrolment can often be undermined by high wastage. Repetition can beguile the overall picture of an education system’s indices, such as the survival rate and overall proportion of one gender in the total school population. Interest in the proportion of students in an education system can be positive with GPI of 1.0, but it is possible that among the students in school are a high number of repeaters. This attests to a system’s systemic (and sometimes endemic) inefficiency. Unfortunately, most of those that tend to repeat are girls, for a variety of reasons, including frequent absenteeism. Repetition rate in ESAR is presented in Table 9.
xxviii Table 9: Repetition rate in ESAR, 2000 and 2005 Percentage of repeaters in primary, All grades Data Total Female GPI for repeaters, All grades Year 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 Angola ------Botswana 3.4 - 2.6 - 0.6 - Burundi 25.0 - 25.9 - 1.1 - Comoros 26.0 - 25.3 - 1.0 - DRC ------Eritrea 19.4 21.3 20.0 22.2 1.1 1.1 Ethiopia 13.4 7.0 13.4 6.3 1.0 0.8 Kenya ------Lesotho 18.3 - 16.4 - 0.8 - Malawi 15.4 - 15.2 - 1.0 - Mauritius 4.2 4.8 3.8 4.0 0.8 0.7 Mozambique 23.5 - 24.1 - 1.0 - Namibia 13.2 - 11.4 - 0.8 - Rwanda 32.5 - 34.1 - 1.1 - Seychelles . - . . . - Somalia nil - nil - nil - South Africa 8.8 - 7.3 - 0.7 - Swaziland 16.1 - 13.2 - 0.7 - Uganda ------Tanzania - 4.3 - 4.4 - 1.1 Zambia 6.2 - 5.9 - 0.9 - Zimbabwe . - . . . - ESAR 16.1 9.4 15.2 9.2 0.9 0.9 SSA ------Source: UIS website (2007)
Survival in the school system An education system’s internal efficiency is determined by, besides repetition rate, the survival of children within the system and the final completion rate. High survival and completion rates imply limited losses of pupils/students through drop out. But that is also dependent on a number of factors, largely, the absence of inhibitors such as school costs, gender specific barriers, school curriculum, teacher related factors, dysfunctional (or sometimes absence of) national education policies, etc.
In most cases, survival rate is computed at the intermediate and final grades. Survival rates for the region are presented in Table 10.
xxix Table 10: Survival Rate in Primary Education in ESAR Survival Rate to Grade 5 Survival Rate to Last Grade Data Total Female Total Female Year 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 Angola ------Botswana 89.5 - 92.3 - 84.9 - 88.5 - Burundi 56.1 - 55.3 - 50.0 - 49.4 - Comoros ------DRC ------Eritrea 60.5 - 60.1 - 60.5 - 60.1 - Ethiopia - - - - 68.1 - 68.7 - Kenya ------Lesotho 66.7 - 74.2 - 54.3 - 62.6 - Malawi 51.9 - - - 39.5 - - - Mauritius 99.3 - 99.3 - 98.3 - 98.7 - Mozambique 51.9 - 46.8 - 32.0 - 29.1 - Namibia 94.2 - - - 84.4 - - - Rwanda 39.1 - 39.9 - 27.2 - 26.7 - Seychelles 91.0 - 91.6 - 90.0 - 89.5 - Somalia ------South Africa ------Swaziland 73.9 - 79.2 - 58.2 - 63.7 - Uganda 56.7 - 57.5 - 38.7 - 38.4 - Tanzania 81.4 - 83.3 - 73.9 - 76.5 - Zambia ------Zimbabwe ------ESAR 70.2 70.9 61.4 62.7 SSA ------Source: UIS website (2007)
Eight countries in the region do not have any form of data at all on survival in primary education, while all the rest do not have data for 2005iii. A few features of the above table are nevertheless notable. First, female survival rate in the region in 2000 was marginally higher than the overall rate, and therefore that of the boys. Despite the absence of current data, the table above reveals the stark differences between countries in the region. Whereas Mauritius had a female survival rate to the last grade of 99%, in Mozambique, less than 30% of girls made it to the last grade in 2000. This is twice lower than the regional average, and three times lower than Mauritius.
The Challenge Ahead in Primary Education The data presented so far indicate that as much as many countries in the region are making substantial progress in primary education, most countries remain behind schedule in meeting the 2005 UPE and 2015 EFA goal. A review by UNICEF (2005) reveals the differences between countries in the average annual rate of increase required to meet these goals.
xxx Table 11: Gender Parity and Primary Education AARI observed (1980- AARI required for 2015 Data Primary NE/AR (c.2001) Primary NAR *2005) 2001) goal Year Total boys Girls GPI Total boys Girls GPI Total Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Angola 61.5 66.0 56.9 0.86 67.8 68.8 67.2 0.98 0.90 0.39 1.46 2.27 2.00 2.53 Botswana 81.1 79.3 82.9 1.05 86.0 84.7 87.4 1.03 1.23 1.35 1.13 1.35 1.48 1.22 Burundi 53.5 58.9 48.1 0.82 56.8 61.2 52.4 0.86 0.83 0.59 1.08 3.32 2.94 3.71 Comoros 55.1 59.9 50.2 0.84 64.3 68.5 60.5 0.88 1.54 1.43 1.73 2.81 2.51 3.11 DR Congo ------Eritrea 42.9 46.1 39.6 0.86 48.5 50.6 46.0 0.91 1.41 1.13 1.61 4.08 3.85 4.32 Ethiopia 30.6 33.1 28.0 0.85 34.6 37.0 32.1 0.87 1.02 0.98 1.03 4.96 4.78 5.14 Kenya 70.2 69.7 70.8 1.02 73.2 71.0 75.1 1.06 0.73 0.33 1.08 2.13 2.16 2.09 Lesotho 84.7 81.4 88.0 1.08 86.0 83.3 89.0 1.07 0.35 0.48 0.26 1.10 1.33 0.86 Malawi 81.5 81.5 81.5 1.00 85.0 83.3 86.5 1.04 0.89 0.44 1.25 1.32 1.32 1.32 Mauritius 99.2 98..5 100 1.02 … … … … … … … 0.05 0.11 0.00 Mozambique 59.7 63.5 56.0 0.88 63.7 66.5 60.7 0.91 0.99 0.75 1.19 2.88 2.61 3.14 Namibia 78.4 75.9 80.9 1.07 81.3 78.6 83.9 1.07 0.71 0.66 0.76 1.54 1.72 1.36 Rwanda 84.3 83.1 85.4 1.03 89.3 86.4 91.7 1.06 1.25 0.81 1.58 1.12 1.20 1.04 Seychelles 94.8 94.9 94.7 1.00 … … … … … … … 0.37 0.36 0.38 Somalia 10.8 11.6 10.1 0.87 12.1 12.6 12.1 0.96 0.32 0.24 0.50 6.37 6.31 6.42 S. Africa 93.9 92.9 94.9 1.02 96.0 94.6 97.4 1.03 0.53 0.43 0.62 0.44 0.51 0.36 Swaziland 77.0 76.6 77.4 1.01 80.0 79.0 80.9 1.02 0.74 0.59 0.87 1.64 1.67 1.61 Uganda 78.9 78.4 79.4 1.01 82.6 80.0 84.4 1.06 0.92 0.41 1.35 1.51 1.51 1.47 Tanzania 54.4 54.3 54.5 1.00 58.1 55.7 60.1 1.08 0.91 0.34 1.41 3.26 3.26 3.25 Zambia 66.6 66.9 66.3 0.99 68.2 67.1 69.1 9.03 0.39 0.04 0.70 2.39 2.36 2.41 Zimbabwe 80.5 80.0 81.0 1.01 82.4 81.1 83.5 1.03 0.62 0.34 0.84 1.50 1.54 1.46 ESAR 68.6 67.7 67.9 1.0 69.3 68.9 69.5 1.4 0.9 0.6 1.1 2.2 2.2 2.2 SSA 68.6 67.7 67.9 1.0 69.3 68.9 69.5 1.4 0.9 0.6 1.1 2.2 2.2 2.2 Source: UNICEF (2005b)
In a majority of cases, AARI required for girls is much higher than boys, pointing to the enormous challenge in improving the education of girls in the region, and especially for countries with huge gaps. Countries that have the lowest participation rates also have the highest expected AARI both for girls and boys. In order of magnitude, these countries (those that have AARI for girls of more than 3%) are Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Burundi, Mozambique and Tanzania.
The Education for All – Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI) Window The challenges facing basic education in ESAR and developing countries as a whole is beyond the financial scope of the countries that are far from achieving the EFA and MDG goals. This realization led major bilateral and multilateral donors to come up with a facility that could help the countries to fast track the achievement of the set goals. The EFA-FTI initiative is driven by two main, commitments (Bruns, Mingat and Rakotomalala, 2003): Accelerating efforts to achieve UPE cost effectively and within a transparent global accountability framework Sustaining incremental funding (as much as possible on a grant basis), where credible plans to accelerate progress in primary education exists.
xxxi Improving the education of girls in underperforming countries stands to benefit from the EFA initiative, provided that countries have put in place realistic programs to improve education of girls. Countries where girls are doing much better than boys such as Mauritius and Seychelles have the challenge of targeting both boys and girls, the former to ensure that they catch up with the girls, while at the same time sustaining the current situation. In relation to the gender audit, an immediate task is to investigate the extent to which countries in the region have benefited from EFA-FTI grants, the projects and programs funded and impact, or at least indicative results from a gender perspective.
Secondary participation trends by gender Goal three of the Dakar framework for achieving EFA is reinforced in goal three of MDGs. The emphasis that not just primary education is crucial in the advancement of equity of access is an important recognition of the role of subsequent levels of education in achieving individual and social development. The available evidence (www.wroldbank.org) suggests that educating females at all levels yields substantial benefits, monetary and non-monetary, economic and social, to both the society and the individual. It is estimated that the impact of girls’ education on development will be greater in Africa than in any other region. It is therefore important that an assessment of the progress in girls education must be undertaken for all levels, not least because post secondary education is so crucial in acknowledge economy, and the impact o educating a girl beyond primary level on an illiterate community can be enormous. The impact of educating women is even more powerful at the secondary level. The World Bank (2005), citing a variety of studies, observes that secondary education and above are consistently positively related to most aspects of gender equality, regardless of other conditions. In addition, it has a positive effect on a woman’s use of a variety of pre-natal and delivery services, as ell as postnatal care, and the effect is larger than the effect of lower levels of schooling.
The progress girls make in pre-school and primary education is therefore only meaningful if it helps them to continue to the next level. Equity is a pipeline issue and does not end with achieving full participation in the lower levels of education. Table 12 gives a summary of the participation indices in 2000 and 2005.
xxxii Table 12: Secondary GER, 2000 and 2005 Data Total GER, All programs Female GER, All programs GPI for GER, All programs Year 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 Angola 14.7 - 13.2 - 0.8 - Botswana 72.9 - 74.8 - 1.1 - Burundi ------Comoros 24.0 - 21.5 - 0.8 - DRC 18.0 - 12.4 - 0.5 - Eritrea 27.3 31.4 22.3 23.4 0.7 0.6 Ethiopia 17.5 30.9 13.3 24.3 0.6 0.6 Kenya 39.2 - 38.2 - 1.0 - Lesotho 30.3 - 34.5 - 1.3 - Malawi 31.6 - 27.0 - 0.7 - Mauritius 77.6 88.4 76.1 88.0 1.0 1.0 Mozambique 6.1 - 4.7 - 0.6 - Namibia 58.9 - 62.8 - 1.1 - Rwanda 11.0 - 10.6 - 0.9 - Seychelles 113.1 - 115.0 - 1.0 - Somalia ------South Africa 84.9 - 89.3 - 1.1 - Swaziland 43.0 - 43.1 - 1.0 - Uganda 15.9 16.0 13.8 14.1 0.8 0.8 Tanzania ------Zambia 22.0 - 19.7 - 0.8 - Zimbabwe 42.3 - 39.6 - 0.9 - ESAR 39.5 41.7 38.5 37.5 0.9 0.8 SSA 25.4 - 22.7 - 0.8 - Source: UIS website (2007)
The problem of paucity of data is evident in Table 12. For the most current year, 2005, data is only available for four countries. Just like in pre-primary and primary education, ESAR performs better than the rest of the continent. The GPI in 2005 is worse than it was in 2000, reducing from 0.9 to 0.8. Only a few countries have had a GER of over 50% (Botswana, Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles and South Africa). In 2005, only Mauritius has a GPI of 1.0. Some countries have also regressed, e.g. Eritrea, which has reduced from 0.7 to 0.6. A few countries had higher female GERs than total GER in 2000, e.g. Botswana.
The trend of low NERs in the region is evident at the secondary level, where on average, the NER is about 37.2% (total) and 34.2% (female) (Table 13).
xxxiii Table 13: Secondary Net Enrolment Rates in ESAR, 2000 and 2005 Data Total secondary NER Female secondary NER GPI Secondary NER Year 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 Angola ------Botswana 58.9 - 61.8 - 1.1 - Burundi ------Comoros ------DRC ------Eritrea 21.8 25.6 19.4 20.4 0.8 0.7 Ethiopia 16.2 27.7 12.5 21.7 0.6 0.6 Kenya 33.3 - 33.0 - 1.0 - Lesotho 19.0 - 23.5 - 1.6 - Malawi 31.0 - 26.4 - 0.7 - Mauritius 69.7 82.5 68.3 82.7 1.0 1.0 Mozambique 3.2 - 2.7 - 0.7 - Namibia 36.0 - 41.9 - 1.4 - Rwanda ------Seychelles 98.3 - 100.0 - 1.0 - Somalia ------South Africa 61.7 - 65.1 - 1.1 - Swaziland 30.5 - 33.2 - 1.2 - Uganda 13.1 13.0 12.1 12.1 0.9 0.9 Tanzania ------Zambia 18.3 - 16.6 - 0.8 - Zimbabwe 39.7 - 37.6 - 0.9 - ESAR 36.7 37.2 36.9 34.2 1.0 0.8 SSA 20.4 - 18.5 - 0.8 - Source: UIS website (2007)
Secondary schooling seems to be suffering from reduced enrolments and increased inequity in the region. Overall, the region recorded a decline in secondary NER GPI from 1.0 to 0.8, though this is still better than the overall African performance in 2000. Whereas Mauritius, Uganda and Ethiopia retained GPIs of 1.0, 0.9 and 0.6 respectively, Eritrea declined from 0.8 to 0.7 over the period. It is not clear how the other countries performed over the period for lack of data, but there is reason to be concerned that there has not been much improvement in NER in the region.
Repetition rates in secondary education in ESAR The data on repetition in the ESAR countries is limited and not recent. The available data is presented in Table 10. Because in some cases, we have 1999 and not 2000 data, the former are included along the latter to obtain a comparative picture for those countries where one set is missing.
xxxiv Table 14: Percentage of Repeaters in Secondary, All Grades Data Total Female Year 1999 2000 2005 1999 2000 2005 Angola ------Botswana 1 (**) 1 - 1 (**) 1 - Burundi ------Comoros 10 - - 11 - - DRC ------Eritrea 16 17 - 22 22 - Ethiopia 12 - - 16 - - Kenya - . - - . - Lesotho 8 9 - 9 9 - Madagascar 18 16 - 18 16 - Malawi 6 - - 6 - - Mauritius 14 13 - 13 12 - Mozambique 23 20 - 24 22 - Namibia 8 8 - 8 (**) 9 - Seychelles nil nil - nil nil - Somalia nil nil - nil nil - South Africa (**) 17 17 - 16 16 - Swaziland 12 12 - 12 12 - Uganda - 2 - - 2 - Tanzania - - (**) 3 - - (**) 4 Zambia (**) 16 14 - (**) 18 15 - Zimbabwe . . - . . - ESAR 11.6 12.8 13 14 Sub-Saharan Africa ------Source: UIS (2007); ** estimates
The average repetition rate in the region in 1999 was 11.6%, which increased one year later to 12.8. Table 14 does not allow for comparison of the progress to 2005 and beyond for lack of data. It does however shows that female repetition is notably higher in most countries, with the possible exception of a few countries where it is the same as the total (Swaziland, Madagascar) or where overall repetition rate is higher than that of girls, meaning that more boys repeat than girls (Mauritius, South Africa). Botswana stands out as having one of the lowest repetition rates, while Mozambique, Zambia, South Africa, Eritrea, and notably, Mauritius, Madagascar and Swaziland have some of the highest rates in ESAR.
Intake Ratios Low participation rates results from the low intake rates. Table 10 presents the intake ratios and high wastage rates for the countries for 2000 and 2005.
xxxv Table 15: Gross Intake Rate and Net Intake Rate, ESAR Countries, 2000 and 2005 Primary Gross Intake Rate Primary net intake rate Data Total Female GPI for GIR Total Female GPI for NIR Year 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 Angola ------Botswana 111.5 - 110.1 - 1.0 - 22.7 - 24.2 - 1.1 - Burundi 70.8 - 63.8 - 0.8 - 28.3 - 28.0 - 1.0 - Comoros 76.7 - 69.3 - 0.8 ------DRC ------Eritrea 67.9 55.4 60.4 50.9 0.8 0.9 20.4 23.7 18.8 22.5 0.9 0.9 Ethiopia 78.9 141.3 67.6 135.0 0.7 0.9 ------Kenya ------Lesotho 206.4 - 195.6 - 0.9 - 61.6 - 62.7 - 1.0 - Malawi 181.0 - 184.2 - 1.0 ------Mauritius 95.4 101.9 95.7 101.8 1.0 1.0 71.0 - 71.4 - 1.0 - Mozambique 109.6 - 102.0 - 0.9 - 21.3 - 20.8 - 1.0 - Namibia 91.3 - 92.9 - 1.0 - 53.3 - 55.1 - 1.1 - Rwanda 141.7 - 140.5 - 1.0 ------Seychelles 120.2 - 123.5 - 1.1 - 77.2 - 80.0 - 1.1 - Somalia nil - nil - nil ------South Africa 113.9 - 112.0 - 1.0 ------Swaziland 100.6 - 97.4 - 0.9 - 45.2 - 46.1 - 1.0 - Uganda 172.7 - 172.7 - 1.0 ------Tanzania 86.5 124.7 84.3 124.2 1.0 1.0 - 89.6 - 90.5 - 1.0 Zambia 83.7 - 84.0 - 1.0 - 35.6 - 36.0 - 1.0 - Zimbabwe 115.4 - 113.8 - 1.0 - 42.4 - 43.4 - 1.0 - ESAR 111.4 105.8 108.2 103.0 0.9 1.0 43.5 56.7 44.2 56.5 1.0 1.0 SSA 92.0 - 86.7 ------Source: UIS (2007)
There are significant differences between ESAR countries in the intake rates, with indications of gross inefficiency in some education systems. Whereas Ethiopia had a GIR of 114.3% in 2005, it had a GER of 93.4%. In 2000, it had a GER of 63.45 against a GIR of 78.8%. However, even though this could be the case, Ethiopia is also one of the countries that have recorded remarkable improvements, as it has increased both its GPI for GIR and GPI for GER from 0.7 to 0.9 between 2000 and 2005 respectively. Mauritius on the other hand had an overall and female GIR of 101.9 and 101.8 in 2005 but with GER of 102.2 and 102.3% respectively.
The low intake rates are largely responsible for the high number of school age children still out of school in the region, as shown in Table 16 below.
xxxvi Table 16: Out of School Children in ESAR No. of primary school age children out of Rate of primary school age children school out of school Data Total Female Total Female Year 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 Angola ------Botswana 59,789 - 26,382 - 18.9 - 16.8 - Burundi 659,724 - 352,520 - 56.5 - 60.4 - Comoros 49,426 - 26,927 - 44.5 - 49.1 - DRC ------Eritrea 280,522 314,162 147,305 166,725 58.8 53.4 61.8 56.9 Ethiopia ------Kenya 1,680,946 - 808,466 - 32.6 - 31.5 - Lesotho 62,509 - 25,601 - 18.2 - 15.0 - Malawi ------Mauritius 9,118 6,602 4,195 2,705 7.1 5.5 6.6 4.5 Mozambique 1,523,767 - 85,8157 - 44.4 - 50.1 - Namibia 98,530 - 43,378 - 25.8 - 22.9 - Rwanda ------Seychelles ------Somalia ------South Africa 372,625 - 151,150 - 5.3 - 4.4 - Swaziland 50,461 - 24,668 - 23.7 - 23.2 - Uganda ------Tanzania 3,225,324 604,378 1,583,870 331,111 48.6 8.5 47.9 9.3 Zambia 781,974 - 396,654 - 36.7 - 37.4 - Zimbabwe 428,752 - 212,383 - 17.1 - 17.0 - ESAR 9,283,467 925,142 4,661,656 500,541 31.3 22.5 31.7 23.6 SSA ------Source: UIS (2007)
The progress in enrolling children out of school between 2000 and 2005 in ESAR has been good, with the number reducing from 9.2 million to 0.9 million, or 90%. This could be attributed to change in policies by most countries in the region, including implementation of free primary education. In 2005, females constituted 54% of the 0.9 million children out of school. The proportion of female children out of school in the same period has reduced by a significant 89.3%. It is therefore evident that in the seven years after Dakar, schools have been attracting out of school girls into the school system at an average rate of 12.8% per year. Theoretically, this should mean that given one more year, all the girls out of school should be enrolled, barring any other unforeseen hindrance. However, this might not apply to some countries such as Eritrea and Burundi, where the proportion of out of school girls still remain above 60%. UNICEF (2005) estimates that for ESAR to realize UPE by 2015, countries in the region will have to increase NER at an average of 2.75 per cent per year, notwithstanding the high AARI of 0.9 that the region has maintained between1980 to 2001, which is actually the second highest in the world.
The success in attracting out of school children into the school system will to a great extent depend on the ability of countries to put in place practical policies and relevant
xxxvii incentives, including additional financial resources, to reach the excluded, marginalized and minority groups within the country. Evidence seems to suggest that even where a lot of progress is made, those that may not enroll are mostly from the excluded groups, where girls constitute a majority. According to Lewis and Lockheed (2006), most of the girls still out of school at the turn of the century were and remain from the excluded groups, accounting for nearly 70%. Specifically in Africa, girls constitute 75% of all excluded children, and are mostly from smaller, non-dominant ethnic communities. Gender specific barriers explaining non attendance include language, lack of schools in remote areas, selection examinations and tracking poor quality of schooling, less knowledgeable teachers, less instructional time, fewer textbooks and instructional materials, poor facilities and physical inputs, among others.
Summary of Participation: Percent of Female Students in Education The preceding presentation of participation in education at various levels demonstrates the progress made in achieving the EFA and MDG goals. Notably, there are individual country differences, with some making progress much faster than others, while a few, specifically, Seychelles, Mauritius, Botswana and Namibia, lead the rest of the countries in the region in reducing the gender gap and overall participation. This section summarizes the trends by presenting the overall picture of the proportion of female students in various levels of education and types of programs between 2000 and 2005 (Table 17).
xxxviii Table 17: Female Students by level of education in ESAR Percent of female students in various levels/types of education programs Secondary (all Secondary Technical/ Post-secondary Data Pre-primary programs) vocational programs non-tertiary Year 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 Angola - - 45.3 - 39.3 - . - Botswana - - 51.1 - 37.2 - 47.1 - Burundi 48.6 - - - - - . - Comoros 51.0 - 44.5 - 24.1 - 34.5 - DRC 49.5 - 34.3 - 31.2 - . - Eritrea 48.0 50.2 41.1 37.2 19.7 36.2 24.4 - Ethiopia 48.1 48.5 37.9 39.1 21.7 51.2 . 39.1 Kenya 49.9 - 48.5 - 29.2 - 39.8 - Lesotho 50.2 - 56.8 - 55.0 - - - Malawi nil - 42.8 - . - 34.9 - Mauritius 49.8 49.3 48.5 49.1 21.1 31.3 21.4 22.2 Mozambique nil - 38.4 - 27.8 - . - Namibia 53.6 - 52.8 - . - 31.5 - Rwanda 49.6 - 49.1 - 48.7 - . - Seychelles 48.3 - 50.6 - . - 58.3 - Somalia nil - - - nil - nil - South Africa 49.9 - 52.4 - 42.0 - 42.0 - Swaziland nil - 50.2 - nil - nil - Uganda 49.7 - 43.4 43.8 30.4 32.5 . . Tanzania - 50.1 - - - - nil nil Zambia - - 44.5 - 6.5 - . - Zimbabwe 50.5 - 46.8 - . - 11.7 - ESAR 49.7 49.5 46.2 42.3 31.4 37.8 34.6 30.7 SSA 49.1 - 44.4 - 36.4 - - -
There is reasonably complete data for 2000, unlike 2005. Out of all the entries in Table 17, only 12 (14.6) are above 50% (but below 60%, with the highest being 56.8% (but still, in 2000)). This means that overall, the participation of females in all levels of education in the region still lags behind that of boys. For ESAR as a whole, there is no level where girls constitute 50% or more of students, with the highest being pre-school with 49.1%.
Women are highly under-represented in post secondary, non-tertiary level, where they are less than one third, and in the technical and vocational secondary education programs, where they constitute 38% of all enrolments. An interesting feature of the above table is the reversal of the leadership of the traditionally strong performers such as Mauritius, which has only 22.1% of women in post secondary education, significantly behind Ethiopia. Using 2000 figures, it is only Seychelles which had women constituting more than half of enrolments in post secondary, non-tertiary level education.
Resource Inputs The definitions of quality education presented in the Analytical Frame (see also Endnote 1) lays good emphasis on the inputs and processes that determine quality. This section reviews the available information on teachers as a crucial input in the educational
xxxix process, and specifically, their numbers and impact on pupil teacher ratios. It also reviews the education budgets of member countries.
Teachers Teachers are an important dynamic in the education process, and probably the most important input in the learning process. Quality of education often revolve around important teacher issues, such as the numbers of teachers by training status and gender, their academic qualifications and experience, policies on deployment and motivation, and pupil teacher ratios. A review of data on teachers in ESAR is presented in Table 18.
Table 18: Percentage of Trained Teachers in ESAR, 2000 and 2005 Primary Secondary Data Total Female Total Female Year 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 Angola ------Botswana 89.2 - 90.6 - 87.5 - 86.6 - Burundi ------Comoros ------DRC ------Eritrea 72.0 83.5 62.1 71.0 60.6 48.3 65.7 72.2 Ethiopia - 97.1 - 97.8 - - - - Kenya ------Lesotho 74.2 - 77.3 - 86.7 - 87.7 - Madagascar ------Malawi ------Mauritius 100.0 - 100.0 - - - - - Mozambique ------Namibia 36.0 - 36.7 - 70.2 - 74.8 - Seychelles 81.1 - 81.7 - 91.6 - 97.2 - Somalia ------South Africa 67.9 - 69.9 - - - - - Swaziland 90.4 - 91.2 - - - - - Uganda - - - - 44.6 - 36.1 - Tanzania - 100.0 - 100.0 - - - - Zambia ------Zimbabwe ------ESAR 76.4 93.5 76.2 89.6 73.5 48.3 74.7 72.2 SSA ------Source: UIS website (2007)
Though 10 countries do not have any form of data, the available data seem to point to an increase in the proportion of trained teachers in the region. Significantly, the proportion of trained female primary teachers increased from 76.2% in 2000 to 89.6% in 2005, an increase of 23.4 percentage points. At the secondary level, the proportion declined by 2.5 percentage points to 72.2%. The decline here may be attributed to either of two factors. One is that while a good number of women qualify for training in primary teacher training colleges, those that obtain the necessary qualification for entrance to secondary teacher training colleges (normally a diploma which requires higher secondary qualification) is low. Not many women therefore graduate with the necessary qualification to join these colleges. The other alternative explanation is that the
xl opportunities for women are just limited, even where they qualify. This is highly probable in systems where there are no gender sensitive or affirmative action policies to empower women.
Pupil teacher ratios Table 19 presents a summary of teacher numbers and PTRs in ESAR.
Table 19: PTRs and Percent of Female Teachers Pupil teacher ratio Percent of female teachers Data Pre-primary Primary Secondary Pre-primary Primary Secondary YEAR 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 Angola ------Botswana - - 26.7 - 17.3 - - - 80.6 - 45.8 - Burundi 27.5 - 56.8 - - - 98.9 - 57.0 - - - Comoros 25.9 - 36.8 - - - - - 25.7 - - - DRC 24.8 - - - 13.8 - 87.7 - - - 10.1 - Eritrea 36.7 37.7 47.5 47.5 54.1 51.3 97.8 102.2 37.4 39.9 11.6 11.3 Ethiopia 35.3 33.4 63.6 72.3 39.9 54.3 93.2 91.3 36.9 44.6 12.7 16.6 Kenya 26.3 - 34.4 - - - 55.2 - 41.8 - - - Lesotho 18.7 - 47.9 - 22.1 - 99.1 - 80.2 - 52.9 - Madagascar - - 48.0 - - - - - 60.7 - - - Malawi nil - 70.0 - - - nil - 44.4 - - - Mauritius 16.0 14.9 26.1 23.2 19.4 17.2 100.0 100.0 55.1 62.9 48.2 55.3 Mozambique nil - 64.0 - - - nil - 25.7 - - - Namibia 29.5 - 31.6 - 24.1 - 87.6 - 66.8 - 46.3 - Rwanda 34.9 - 54.0 - - - 85.7 - 53.0 - - - Seychelles 14.9 - 14.7 - 14.5 - 100.0 - 86.1 - 52.5 - Somalia nil - - - - - nil - - - - - South Africa - - 33.5 - 28.1 - - - 75.2 - 49.8 - Swaziland nil - 31.3 - 17.3 - nil - 74.7 - - - Uganda 24.6 - 52.7 49.9 17.7 19.2 69.8 - 36.1 38.6 21.2 21.9 Tanzania - 57.3 41.4 55.9 - - - 58.4 45.3 47.9 - - Zambia - - 45.0 - - - - - 50.4 - - - Zimbabwe - - 37.0 - 24.7 - - - 48.3 - 37.4 - ESAR 26.5 35.8 43.1 49.8 24.5 35.5 87.1 88.0 53.6 46.8 35.0 26.3 SSA 29.4 - 41.7 - 25.5 - 70.1 - 43.8 - 31.1 - Source: UIS website (2007)
Other than the wide variation between countries, PTRs in ESAR have deteriorated. Fewer teachers are handling an increased number of pupils in 2005 compared to 2000. In Ethiopia for instance, there was one teacher for every 64 primary school pupils in 2000 but the same teacher was handling 72 pupils in 2005. In ESAR, the ratio also reduced increased from one teacher for every 43 pupils in 2000 to one teacher for every 50 pupils in 2005. The increased load reflects increased enrolment and lack of or reduced teacher recruitment. This is probably because of the pressure exerted by teacher costs in the national education budgets, which in some cases such as Kenya constitutes a high of 88% (Kenya, 2007c). Countries that have not registered any change like Eritrea may be experiencing serious problems in increasing enrolment.
xli The proportion of female teachers are highest in Seychelles (at 86%) and lowest (below 50%) in Uganda, Mozambique, Eritrea, Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania. In 2005, Mauritius had the highest proportion of female teachers at 63%. Concerns may be raised that very few female teachers in school like in Seychelles and Mauritius may not augur well for education of boys as they may associate teaching with females and not aspire be in the profession. However, data does not seem to support such fears because despite this high proportion, Seychelles and Mauritius are some of the countries with gender equity in participation and performance in national examinations (see SACMEQ results). It may therefore be concluded that higher proportion of female teachers in an education system is beneficial to both girls and boys.
Access to Educational Materials and Other Facilities There is enough evidence that demonstrates the importance of educational inputs which include physical facilities and instructional materials in influencing pupil learning and achievement (Lockheed and Vespoor, 1991). Without doubt, even the best educational programs can be frustrated by lack of instructional materials. Evidence also shows that other physical facilities such as classroom and sanitary facilities are equally crucial. Evidence suggests that lack of/or poor state of toilet facilities is likely to hinder the enrolment and participation of girls in the school (Republic of Kenya, 1998; Lockheed and Vespoor, 1991). A review of the SACMEQ data showed that access to facilities and resources are not desegregated by gender, making it difficult to make decisions on the gender dynamics of access to educational facilities and resources. Some of the resources are so essential that even if desegregated data is not available, the current status should be revealed. The proportion of students without access to textbooks in the region is presented in Figure 2.
Fig. 2: Percent of Sixth Grade Students without Books in 14 ESAR Countries (2000)
Source: Kane (2004) Kenya has successfully implemented an instructional materials investment program that has improved pupil text book ratio from 15:1 to 3:1 in lower primary and 2:1 in upper primary. A review of the program (DFID, 2006) revealed that teachers and pupils now
xlii use textbooks more frequently than before. The scenario has therefore changed dramatically for Kenya from what is depicted in Figure 2
Performance in examinations The definitions of quality education presented earlier point to the centrality of pupil performance as a proxy of quality. The assumption is that the outcomes of learning, as evident in test scores reflects, the quality of instruction that pupils/students received. There seems to be consensus that in addition to performance, literacy and greater cognitive abilities are the other important manifestations of schooling quality (Deolalikar, 1999).
Results of tests administered by the Southern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) are presented in Table 20 below.
Table 20: Performance in Examinations, SACMEQ 1 and II Resultsiv SACMEQ I SACMEQ II Reading Reading Mathematics Data Total Girls Boys Total Girls Boys Total Girls Boys Kenya 543.3 542.1 544.5 546.5 564.6 546.5 563.3 552.4 574.2 Lesotho - - - 451.2 454.8 446.7 447.2 448.3 445.7 Malawi 462.6 457.8 466.9 428.9 425.6 431.9 432.9 427.7 437.7 Mauritius 550.2 556.3 544.3 536.4 550.7 523.1 584.6 590.2 579.3 Mozambique - - - 516.7 514.1 518.4 530.0 519.5 537.0 Namibia 472.9 471.4 474.6 448.8 451.3 446.0 430.9 428.6 433.3 Seychelles - - - 582.0 614.2 549.7 554.3 573.1 535.5 South Africa - - - 493.3 504.8 478.3 486.3 489.8 482.1 Swaziland - - - 529.6 533.9 525.0 516.5 514.3 518.9 Uganda - - - 482.4 485.9 479.6 506.3 504.0 508.1 Tanzaniav - - - 514.1 505.7 516.7 500.3 489.1 512.5 Zambia 477.5 474.7 479.8 440.1 440.7 439.8 435.2 430.0 440.2 Zimbabwe 504.7 485.9 500.6 ------ESAR 501.9 498.0 501.8 497.5 503.9 491.8 499.0 497.3 501.9 Source: SACMEQ data (www.sacmeq.org) (-) = Five ESAR countries: Angola, Burundi, Comoros, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Rwanda are not members of SACMEQ and did not therefore participate in the tests
The differences between girls and boys in examination performance at all levels remain evident, though there are notable differences between countries. SACMEQ I had only reading, in which girls performed poorer than boys in all countries by an average of four percentage pints. The only exception is Mauritius that consistently record better performance by girls, even in participation. In SACMEQ II, girls in the region performed better than boys in reading by a remarkable difference of 12 percentage points. The only countries where boys performed better than girls in reading are Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia (only marginally). On the other hand, boys outperform girls in mathematics by an average of five percentage points. There are a few exceptions where girls performed better than boys. These are Mauritius, Lesotho, Seychelles and South Africa.
The available literature on performance shows a clear pattern of girls outperform boys at lower levels, but the pattern reverses at upper levels; girls do better, usually, on literacy-
xliii related tasks, but boys do better at mathematics and science, and urban children do better than rural. This is a somewhat established pattern, having been observed in Uganda (Uganda National Examinations Board, 2000); Zambia (Kelly 1991), and Kenya (Appleton 1995; Mensch and Lloyd 1998). . The outcome of this pattern of performance is marginalization of girls in the longer term. Good performance in the languages will only facilitate their domination of the arts, literature, humanities and other ‘soft’ disciplines in post basic education such as education, general arts and sciences, home economics, nutrition, among others. A study of participation trends in university program by gender shows that at Sokoine University in Tanzania, women comprise 73% of students in Home Economics and Nutrition, but only 11% in Architecture, and less than 13% in Bachelor of Science (Agronomy) (AHEAD, 2007). The result would be fewer female scientists, architects, engineers, doctors, actuarial specialists, computer scientists, aeronautical engineers and pilots, etc. The data on tertiary education presented in Tables 17 and 18 bear this out. It is clear that in some cases, e.g. Seychelles and Mauritius, focus should be more on boys than girls, both in participation and achievement/outcomes of schooling.
The Policy Front Two distinct types of policies necessary in catalyzing the rights of girls and women and increasing their participation in the development process can be identified. These are overall national policy frameworks and approaches on which education development is anchored, and specific sub-sectoral or thematic areas which governments legislate on in order to protect rights and advance causes of girls and women. In this regard, this section details policy developments in three areas: education SWAps; Children’s rights; and, gender policies.
Education SWAps and Girls’ Education Traditional approach to system improvement has for long centred on the project approach, with players engaging in specific activites, and often, on their own. Even governments funded specific projects and sought international donor support for the specific projects or programs in education. There is an increasing adoption of the sector wide approach (SWAp). SWAp is a process that leads to a sector development program or, in some cases, a more limited primary education sub-sector program (Vespoor, 2005). SWAps aim at aligning international support with government priorities and to improve the coherence of international advice and financing. A key feature of SWAps is the production of, and backing by, a sector development plan. In a SWAp process, a country would lead the coordination of support to education with other partners (donors, NGOs, FBOs) and would involve the entire sector. In ESAR, SWAps exist in at least seven countries: Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Lesotho, Kenya, Mozambique and Malawi.
SWAps are expected to improve education of girls by bringing the gender agenda in dialogue between governments and development partners. It should also lead to a process of engendering national budgets to ensure that gender specific programs are adequately addressed in the budgets. Importantly, SWAps should help stakeholders look
xliv together at inequities in the distribution of resources and to plan together strategies and mechanisms for addressing those inequities, something that would be “much more difficult in a project mode of assistance, in which each international agency is focused on limited aims and usually within limited geographic areas of the country” (Vespoor, 2005:95). Analysis of data from countries should give an indication of whether, how and by what magnitude SWAps have resulted in an improvement in the education of girls.
Rights of children including girls The accession of counters to the Convention on the Right of the Child (CRC) placed a natural responsibility of domesticating its provisions in country legislations to provide a framework for its local implementation. Kenya enacted the Children’s Act in 2001. The Act recognizes equality of sexes in accessing educational and other opportunities. The overall goal of the act is “to give effect to the principles of the CRC and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and related issues such as early marriages, FGM, rights to survival, health and medial care, the provision of education, which shall be the responsibility of the parents and the Government, protection from child labour, sexual exploitation, prostitution, harmful drugs and legal assistance by the Government” (Kenya, 2006). Analysis of county legislation should reveal the extent to which legislation has advanced and protected the rights of children to education. This should be seen in the numbers that have joined school system and an improvement in the conditions of their learning by, among others, placing responsibility on government and parents to provide the necessary facilities and funding to education.
Gender Policies Africa seems to perform fairly well as far as EFA and MDG matters are addressed in national policy documents. A review of the coverage of EFA-time bound goals in planning documents of 32 countries globally showed that Africa has the highest number of countries addressing at least five of the goals, but at the same time has the highest number addressing the gender goal (8) (UNESCO, 2006)vi. Another assessment revealed that Africa has the highest proportion of countries where governments and legislature often refer to MDGs in policies and debates on national development (UNDG, 2005).
Kenya has a national gender policy that was approved by the Cabinet in 2006 and passed by Parliament the same year. The policy, Sessional Paper No. 6 of 2006 on Gender Equality and Development recognizes the importance of regulatory and institutional reforms in achieving equitable and sustainable “ Special schools for children with development. disabilities are few, and are poorly equipped due to inadequate funding Both the gender policy and the Children’s Act are from government. …Girls in these broad enough, recognizing the right to education, schools are sexually abused” and the underlying obstacles to the realization of Kenya, 2006:21 these rights. The soundness of the policy nevertheless does not mean much if implementation is weak. Implementation of the free primary education program in a number of ESAR countries has provided an enabling environment for the realization of this right, even though education is still not compulsorily provided.
xlv Complementarity: UNGEI and National Education Programs In supplementing the efforts of national policies and programs, UNICEF has partnered with FAWE and respective governments to synergistically work for the elimination of gender gaps and ensure successful completion of good quality education by girls and boys. Though all the four countries have the United Nations’ Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) task forcesvii, Uganda has done better in ensuring that the task forces are established to the grassroots level to root for the girl child. In Kenya, UNGEI is focusing on children in ASAL (Arid and Semi-Arid) districts in northern parts of the country. Other activities implemented within the UNGEI framework in the four countries include: Kenya: embedding gender in the education SWAp, using FTI funds to improve girls’ education, gender mainstreaming in education policies, conducting gender audits on national education policies, using GEM to empower girls Uganda: conducting gender audits on national education policies, using GEM to empower girls, documenting best practices in girls’ education Malawi: conducting an evaluation study on SWAps in education, developing a SWAp Pack and mounting capacity building program, conducting gender audits on national education policies Ethiopia: conducting gender audits on national education policies, developing gender sensitive education budgeting handbook, documenting best practices in girls’ education. (Source: UNGEI Newsletter, May, 2007).
The girls’ education movement (GEM) is one of the strategies adopted by UNICEF to scale up the effective participation of girls in education. GEM is not about girls only; it actively involves engaging with boys as strategic allies in the improvement of girls’ education. GEM addresses a broad range of issues. These include school safety and security, especially of girls, equality of participation and achievement in disciplines where girls have traditionally trailed boys, mostly in science, mathematics and technology. It also includes gender equality in curriculum and teaching, special needs education and resource needs and legislation. GEM clubs provide an important avenue for pupils to articulate issues concerning their education and even engage with parents, communities, school management, policy makers and advocacy groups on improving girls’ education. It is therefore a powerful vehicle in mobilizing stakeholders in education to address the issues around girls’ education. However, the effectiveness of GEMs in various countries differs. The effectiveness of GEM clubs at the school level in all the countries could not be ascertained since there were no school visits. Evidence seems to suggest that in some countries like Uganda, the GEM is proving an effective mobilization tool for girls’ education. The challenges that are evident in the countries – better transition rate for boys as opposed to girls, lower achievement of girls in examinations, etc, indicate that there is still room for GEM to engage more intensely to equalize the differences between girls and boys.
EMIS
xlvi The presentation above reveals that generally, education data is a problem in most countries. The problem is threefold: a). data is scarce, hardly available and not comprehensive; b). where it is available, it is old, on average by two years at the least; and, c). data is not always disaggregated. Most gender departments lack personnel and skills based statistical analysis of existing data. The progress that has been made on this front need to be documented, and is one of the tasks of the gender audit.
Education Budgets – Extent of Funding for Gender Specific Programs The preceding section identifies some promising interventions in improving the education of girls. In many cases, countries are not unaware of the right interventions but are limited by resources. Resource allocation in education and other sectors is one method for determining the progress being made in advancing the gender goals of international covenants as well as national plans. The existence of national gender policies and gender policy in education is one benchmark for determining the commitment of nations. The success is determined from implementation and the outcomes directly attributed to the impact of specific policies as implemented, which in turn depend on resource availability.
To make a difference, countries require spending a certain amount of resources in education for them to achieve the MDG and EFA targets. A review of progress in achieving the EFA target of 15 by the World Bank (2002) revealed that because of inability of governments to raise the requisite resources to achieve that goal, additional donor support to the tune of US 2.1 billion will be required for at least the next 15 years (from 2001). The Bank observes that this estimate is even lower than indicative figures from other sources of between $7 and $15 billion.
A comparison of 2000 and current spending levels in should give an indication of the progress made on this front. Table 21 compares overall spending and per pupil spending by level in ESAR countries between 2000 and 2005.
xlvii Table 21: Public Education Spending: Overall and per pupil (%), 2000 and 2005* Overall public ed Public expenditure per pupil as a % of GDP per capita Data exp as % of GDP Primary Secondary Tertiary All levels Year 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 2000 2005 Angola 2.6 ------Botswana ------Burundi 3.4 - 11.7 - - - 966.5 - - - Comoros ------DRC ------Eritrea 3.2 ------Ethiopia 4.7 - . - . - . - . - Kenya 6.3 - 27.0 - 18.1 - 249.8 - - - Lesotho 10.1 - 23.9 - 67.4 - 670.7 - 37.7 - Madagascar 3.2 - 11.4 - - - 189.6 - - - Malawi 4.1 ------Mauritius 4.0 ------Mozambique ------Namibia 7.9 - 22.4 - 34.3 - - - - - Seychelles ------Somalia ------South Africa 5.6 - 14.6 - 18.6 - 57.8 - 18.0 - Swaziland 6.2 - 10.4 - 28.4 - 487.0 - 22.5 - Uganda 2.5 ------Tanzania ------Zambia 2.0 - 7.3 - 19.9 - 168.2 - 11.3 - Zimbabwe 4.7 - 13.2 - 20.0 - 200.4 - 17.6 - SSA ------ESAR 4.7 15.8 29.5 373.8 21.4 Source: UIS website (2007)
The data on educational spending in the region is not engendered or disaggregated by gender. It is therefore difficult to determine how much is spent on the education of girls. It may be argued that there is no need to disaggregate data specifically by gender because per pupil spending gives a picture of equality in spending between girls and boys. While this is mostly true, and given credence by the fact that most primary schools are co- educational institutions, where the average spending per pupil is available, and if male pupils dominate in enrolment as is common in the region, the reverse argument that boys disproportionately benefit from public funding can be sustained. The picture however remarkably changes at the secondary level, where most boarding schools are single sex, but boarding schools are not the majority. In fact, secondary education in Africa tends to be the most expensive and inequitably accessed by girls and boys. Fewer girls in secondary schools points to the inequity in funding. However, the line of argumentation here is hypothetical and it is safe to conclude that so far, we do not have enough knowledge on the gender dimensions of public education spending.
Financing Gap in Meeting EFA Achieving the targets spelt out in the introductory section of this report, and given the AARI required to meet the EFA goals presented in Tables 11 and 22 below will need significant increase in financial allocation to education by all countries.
xlviii Table 22: ESAR Countries by Financing Gap Required to Meet EFA by 2015 Country Gap Country Gap Country Gap Africa 2,152 Kenya 152 Seychelles n/a Angola 46 Madagascar 33 Swaziland n/a Botswana n/a Lesotho 12 Somalia - Comoros - Malawi 39 South Africa n/a DRC 180 Mauritius n/a Tanzania 123 Burundi 26 Mozambique 54 Uganda 110 Eritrea 11 Namibia n/a Zambia 54 Ethiopia 245 Rwanda 36 Zimbabwe n/a * Based on World Bank (2002) simulations ($millions)
Table 24 reflects the diversity of differences among ESAR countries. Three categories of countries can be singled out from the above table. First, the countries with an ‘n/a’ in the last column were not at risk when data were collected in 2001, and which remain on track in achieving the EFA and MDG goals. These countries, which also have high enrolment rates, are: Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa and Botswana. Though Zimbabwe was in this category in 2001, circumstances have changed dramatically, and, even though there are no current statistics, public spending on education has suffered because of the economic instability in that country. The second category countries had not made significant investment in education, but have since adopted free primary education with a consequent increase in education spending. Countries in this category are Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. The third category comprises the so called failed states, where there is no order and public spending on education is nil. The only country in this category is Somalia. The good news from the above table though is that some countries: Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles and Swaziland are on target and do not need to adjust their funding to education. The challenge for these countries is sustaining the current participation levels.
A review of Kenya’s prospects and resource requirements for achieving EFA in 2006 demonstrates that for the goal to be realized, the country will require up to KES 93.2 billion for FY 2007/08, KES 96.5 billion for FY 2009/10 and KES 124.2 billion for FY 2014/2015. If investment programs not directly under EFA are included, then, the figures jump sharply to KES 112.6 billion, 115.6 billion and KES 144.8 billion respectivelyviii (UNDG, 2006). These figures are substantially higher than the projected total allocation to the entire education sector. This in essence means that the country may not achieve the MDG.
Conclusion ESAR can be divided into two groups of countries: the leaders - those that have made tremendous progress and those that still have a long way to go. The former group comprise Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and, to some extent, Lesotho. The rest of the countries fall in the second category. The challenge is how the latter group of countries can learn from the former. The proportion of funding that the leaders dedicate to education is not significantly different from what
xlix the others allocate to the sector. The answer is not in the different levels of economic development. Swaziland and Lesotho economies can hardly be said to be better than Kenya’s, or even Ethiopia’s. Rather, the policies and their implementation, and to some degree, socio-cultural dynamics, seems to have a significant impact. The legacy of colonialism seems to play a role. Most of the countries doing well in the region are Anglophone. Britain in particular left strong capacities in the countries it colonized. This explains, for instance, the poor performance of Eritrea and Mozambique, in sharp contrast to the other leaders.
Yet, these countries serve as models to the rest of the region in advancing girls participation and performance in examinations. The fact of girls being ahead of boys does not imply paying attention to boys alone. Both are in danger: girls can easily regress. Policies and financing instruments should then aim at consolidating the gains made in girls’ education while at the same time improving the lot of boys.
In summary, much progress has been made by ESAR countries in facilitating the achievement of the gender specific EFA and MDG goals. Success has varied between countries. There are instances where some have regressed, and while others have made tremendous leaps. A challenge that is common to all countries is the need to look at all the MDGs holistically and not separately, because achieving one may facilitate the realization of the other goals. Progress in achieving gender parity will be hardly realized when participation of women in public affairs, headship of important institutions and decision making process is limited.
A direct implication of the foregoing discussion is that a gender audit of the education sector should not necessarily be done in isolation if the whole picture is to be visible. Women in important decision making institutions make an impact in the design of policies that addresses the needs of girls in schools, are role models to girls, serve as advocates and lobbyists for the right policies for the promotion of girls education, and are able to invest more in the education of girls in their households, families and communities. To a great degree, the current study seemed to have fallen victim to this trend, at least in as far as the TORs delimited the scope to exclude the other sectors.
An important gap revealed by the current review is the paucity of data, and the need to strengthen EMIS in the countries and specifically, the training of the relevant departments in statistical data management, retrieval and storage. Only a few countries have made the data available online. Other online sources such as UNESCO, World Bank, ADEA, etc, though useful, tend not to have current data. For this reason, there should be a very strong emphasis on MDG 4 as much as on the first threeix.
l Part III: Qualitative Country Summaries
A: Ethiopia
I. Overall Comments The Ethiopian government initiated an education reform program in 1997 that focuses on decentralization and standardization of the education sector service delivery system at all levels. The program is implemented under the Education Sector Development Program (ESDP). ESDP was designed to implement the Education and Training Policy (ETP) of 1994. The overriding goal of ESDP III is the production of citizens with the requisite skills and to meet the national development objectives at all of education (Ethiopia, 2006a). ESDP is anchored on improving five main pillars: quality, relevance, efficiency, equity and access. Special emphasis is given to primary education in rural and underserved areas, as well as the promotion of the education of girls (Ethiopia, 2005). ESDP I and II have lapsed, and the current one (ESDP III) covers the period 2005/06 to 2009/10.
ESDP III is candid in its assessment of the current status of education in Ethiopia, and objectively identifies the major challenges facing the sector. It also effectively articulates the policies and strategies to address them to enable Ethiopia achieve the MDGs. The strategies for its implementation include a strong emphasis on gender issues in a decentralized framework. Most of the implementation of education programs is vested in the Woredas. Being closer to the schools and the community, this approach should prove more effective in monitoring the progress of ESDP implementation.
II. Participation in Education a). Pre-Primary Pre-primary education has for long been a neglected area. Data indicates that the number of ECD centres was only 1,408 by 2004/05, and GER as low as 2.3%. Notably, the ESDP (Ethiopia, 2005) observes that the provision of ECD is limited to major urban areas. The rural areas therefore have a situation where virtually the entire grade one pupils enroll without any form of pre-school education. It is not possible to determine the differences in enrolment for girls and boys because the data is not disaggregated. b). Primary Expansion of primary education is a major goal of the ESDP. GER (formal schooling only) in primary education by 2004 was 79.2%. Not only is the GER still low, but gender differences are manifest, with girls having a GER of 70.9% compared to 87.3% for boys. Even though the rate is still low, the primary girls’ GER of 70.9% (2004/2005) is a significant improvement from 40% in 1999/2000. The gender gap has also been reduced from 20% to 16.4%. Regional differences are also glaring, with the capital, Addis Ababa, having a GER of 125% compared to the pastoralist areas of Afar and Somali that have a GER of as low as 17.1% and 20% respectively. The regions that have lower rates register even more glaring gender disparities.
li Though repetition rate declined from 11.9% to 4% between 1997 and 2005, drop out rate declined only marginally from 16% and 15.6% for boys and girls to 15.2% and 14.1% respectively. Though marginal, this is one of the very few indicators in which boys lag behind girls. c). Secondary education Secondary education has faced serious challenges in Ethiopia. Though there has been an increase in overall number of secondary school children by 121% between 1997 and 2005, the GER for girls, boys and total remains low at 19.6%, 34.2% and 27% respectively. Specifically, the gender gap in secondary education has increased over the same period from 2.2% to 14.6%.
Efficiency indicators in secondary education follow the same pattern as primary. Repetition rate declined from 23.2% to 10% between 1997 and 2005. Drop out rate on the other hand drop out rate increased to 19.3% in 2003/04 from 9.2%. The rates for both boys and girls increased from 9.5% to 21% and 8.9% to 16% respectively.
III. Access to Instructional Materials Much progress has been made in increasing the access of learners to educational materials. Currently, the secondary student/textbook ratio is 1:1, a significant improvement from 5:1 in 1997. The primary level ratio has remained constant over the same period at 2:1. However, there are significant variations between regions. Some regions have ratios as high as 5:1. There are no differences between girls and boys on access to textbooks. In areas where there are shortages of books and pupils have to share, priority is given to girls. Girls are paired with the girls instead of with the boys. This avoids a situation where boys dominate the use of books.
Following its policy of decentralization, textbooks are being produced in more than 22 local languages serving as a media of instruction in primary education. The bold step is part of the measures under the decentralization policy to make education relevant to the local community and culture. The drive to make education internationally competitive has in most cases alienated young learners who have to cope with foreign concepts immediately they enter grade one. For a country where pre-school education is virtually absent except in the urban areas, this policy is a pragmatic solution to the challenge of relevance. Communities would show little enthusiasms in supporting a system that does not make sense to them. It is therefore a crucial step in winning community support for education programs.
IV. Teachers Teacher variables critical to quality teaching are the numbers (that affect the pupil teacher ratio) and the qualification. At the pre-school level, it seems that the number of untrained teachers is relatively high at 26%. At the primary level, data indicate that up to 96% of teachers are trained. But differences exist between female and male teachers. Proportion of lower primary female teachers trained stood at 97.8% compared to 96.5% of the males (for upper primary, the proportions are 57.4 and 54.2 respectively). At the secondary
lii level, differences are also evident. Some regions like Afar and Gambella have no certified female teachers at all. This is one area that needs to be addressed.
Additionally, primary PTR is deteriorating, with the current levels being as high as 65 instead of decreasing. At the secondary level, the PTR has also deteriorated, from a low of 35 to the current 54.
The proportion of female teachers in the national education system reveals that it remains modest. No progress can yet be observed in improving the share of female teachers in secondary education (Ethiopia, 2006b).
V. Performance in examinations An analysis of examination performance in Ethiopia reveals gender disparities. Table 23 presents results of Ethiopian Higher Education Entrance Certificate Examination for 1998 E.C. (2005 G.C.).
Table 23: Ethiopia Higher Education Entrance Examinations Results, 2005 Number of students in range by gender Mark range Male Female Total < 50 9 4 13 50-100 1 3 4 101-150 152 237 389 151-200 3,238 2,772 6,010 201-250 12,392 5,431 17,823 251-300 10,980 2,742 13,722 301-350 2,994 691 3,685 351-400 447 93 540 401-425 11 1 13 426-450 3 0 3 Total 30227 11975 42,202 Source: Ethiopia, 2007
Female candidature is less than one third (28.7) of total. This reflects both a lower enrolment for girls, high drop out and low completion rate. Boys also perform better than girls. More than one quarter of girls score below the average pass mark (200 and below), compared to only one tenth of boys. On the other hand, whereas only 6.3% of girls fall in the top achievers category (301 marks and above), boys are likely to be twice as much, at 11.4%. Implication is that more girls are filtered out and are less likely to feature in tertiary education.
VI. The Education for All – Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI) Window The EFA-FTI provides a window for countries to bridge the financing gaps that is a major hindrance to the achievement of EFA and MDG goals. It is one opening through which gender specific programs could be funded where there is acute need as in Ethiopia. However, despite real budgetary constraints evident in wide financing gapsx, Ethiopia has
liii not benefited from FTI funding. Preparatory work is in progress but there is no certainty that FTI funding will be available any time soon.
VII. The Policy Front Gender Policies: The Ethiopian government’s approach to addressing gender issues is premised on the fact that girls/women are the most disadvantaged in almost all aspects of life: cultural, social, political and economic. The emphasis is therefore on improving their participation in education at all levels. The current ESDP III recognizes gender as a cross-cutting issue in the efforts to improve the performance of the sector. The strong commitment to gender mainstreaming is evident in the following measuresxi.
The government introduced a Women’s National Policy that is now being changed to Gender Policy. The policy is currently awaiting government approval.
Structures have been established to advance gender mainstreaming objectives. Each ministry has a Gender and Equity Departmentxii. There is also a national Women’s Service Standing Committee. In addition, each region has Women’s Service Bureau. The main objective of establishing these institutions is to mainstream gender in every activity, and in every department of government. Female education forums have been established where they did not exist, and strengthened where they existed to monitor and evaluate the implementation of policies, strategies and guidelines on girls’ education
A National Action Plan for Gender Equality (2006 – 2010). In the plan, every activity is budgeted complete with an implementation matrix. There are specific indicators for health, education, roads, agriculture, mining, etc. Most of the budget goes to these sectors.
There is a clear political will to support gender programs from the highest level. The Prime Minister has set the bar of commitment quite high. It is reported that he received an award totaling US$ 400,000 and gave half of it to the setting up of a girls’ scholarship scheme run by women’s association.
A strategy for alternative basic/non formal education has been developed. ABE/NFE has for a long time been provided by the private sector (private providers, NGOs and religious institutions). A number of ABE centres have been established on a pilot basis in selected Woredas (administrative regions equivalent to districts in most countries) in four regions and two zones. Adult and non formal education programs have also been introduced for out of school children within the 7-14 year age range and literacy programs for those aged 15 and above. The government pays facilitators for the programs, while the NGOs/FBOs are responsible for the construction and equipping of the centres. A task force on pastoralist education was appointed in 2004, but has since been integrated in the Women’s Affairs department. It is responsible for the education of girls, pastoralists and special education. As a result of these policy measures, enrolment in these programs has been increasing.
liv Capacity building in coordinating gender related work and also gender mainstreaming. Capacity constraints have been identified as serious impediment to gender mainstreaming. The government has been involved in capacity development at both the regional and national level. Much however remains to be done.
Affirmative action to promote gender equity is implemented on two major fronts. First, 30% of places in the TTCs are reserved for girls only. The remaining 70% is open for competition by both girls and boys. Second, there is a policy to encourage more female enrolment in tertiary education. Female students are given special automatic credits – determined on the basis of the overall admission marks and points - to those who fail to qualify. For example, if the entry cut off GPA point is 3 points out of 4 and above, girls, who get 2.8 will be given an automatic additional 0.2 points. In 2007 the minimum mark for admission was 175 and above (out of 500). However, girls who get 150 and above are admitted. The policy proceeds to ensure that girls gain admission to the competitive programs as well. As a result, all females who sat for the entrance exams for tertiary education in 2005/06 were admitted.
Girls’ education advisory committees have been set up in all primary schools. The objectives are two fold: to assist needy girls in accessing necessary educational materials like textbooks; and, to sensitize parents on the importance of education, fight against early marriage, trace girls drop outs to come back to school, discourage and watch against abduction, among others.
Other highlights of commitment to gender mainstreaming are evident in the following. Tutorial and guidance and counseling services to girls to help those unable to cope or whose pace of learning is slow. They are also given advice regarding field of study in TVET and HEI. A stock taking exercise to determine the number of children of different ages not yet in school is currently underway. There is recognition that unless all school age children are enrolled in 2007/2007, the issue of completing primary in 2015 will be out of question. The exercise will be completed in 2007 Bringing schools closer to the community. Long distance to school has been a major impediment to enrolment especially in the sparsely populated areas. Bringing schools closer to the community is especially important in reducing drop out of girls in the lower and upper grades. Mainstreaming gender in the curriculum, particularly in the books. Findings of a study show that secondary education is bias free. At the primary level, there is a slight problem in regional textbooks; a sample in four regions has been done and preliminary findings reveal biases. The MoE is currently working on removing such biases so that content is gender neutral. Starting dormitories for girls in secondary education for girls to enable them to cope and not drop out. There remains a challenge of equipping the dormitories with libraries and computer rooms where they could learn and practice. Awareness creation on the importance of girls’ education among communities
lv Making schools friendly to girls by constructing separate latrines for boys and girls and assigning female teachers and headteachers, etc to provide close support to girls. Some of the activities such as toilets in schools is implemented by donors such as UNICEF as opposed to the government. Girls clubs have also been started in most schools. Developing gender mainstreaming and guidelines and a five year female education strategy Introducing school feeding programs for the chronically food insecure and vulnerable areas.
Complementarity: UNGEI and Ethiopia Education Program Ethiopia has taken a lead role in developing gender sensitive education budgeting handbook that will inform the process of analyzing national education budget as well as influencing resource allocation in the sector. It has also conducted gender audits on national education policies and documented best practices in girls’ education.
VII. Other strategies The national education gender forum – representatives of women associations, teachers associations at the regional levels, women affairs office in the regional state, and educational bureau head and gender focal point in the regional education bureau and teacher training institution, university and selected women teachers in teacher training and the universities, women affairs standing committee in Parliament – is currently discussing the challenges and activities on gender matters. The forum will have a greater role to push for the gender issues in the respective regions. The gender forum has an advisory committee of which UNICEF is the secretary – is working to promote women’s education. Committee will sensitize the forum and the forum will take the issue to the regional government.
Scholarship: UNICEF started with seed money so that others can also contribute towards a national scholarship fund. UNICEF contributed 100,000 USD and the PM contributed 200,000 USD. There seems to be very good political will to implement this intervention. At the Woreda, there is a gender focal point posted by regional education office. However, the scholarship program as is currently is not sustainable.
ECD policy is currently being developed and once completed, will form the basis for engagement of the government and other stakeholders in providing the same.
IX. Education SWAps The ESDP is a SWAp and has been in place since 1997. The active participation of donors and community has been instrumental in improving the education sector. Effective implementation of a SWAp is limited by the lack of knowledge on the precise number of donors and what they do. The government is planning map the donors to ascertain the number, what they do and where they operate in the country. The adoption of SWAp has addressed the problem of fragmentation in the formulation and execution of education programs, especially at the regional level. Before, regions used to develop their own regional education plans, but currently, the regional ESDPs are aligned with the
lvi national blue print. This has ensured that there is uniformity in implementation and monitoring of education program. Among the donors, it UNICEF has been instrumental in pushing for gender mainstreaming in program implementation.
X. Gender Sensitive Education Budgeting General Overview: One of the main challenges confronting the realization of ESDP and PASDEP objectives and targets is inadequate finance. According to PASDEP, the education budget for the five year PASDEP period is Birr (millions) 8,236, 9,372, 11,612, 12,620 and 11,902 for the FYs 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08, 2008/09 and 2009/2010. This translates to 15.87%, 15.58%, 17.02%, 16.97% and 15.30% of the national budget respectively. There is a near stagnation in the education budget for the life of the PASDEP, yet, it is expected that net enrolment rate for the first cycle of primary education will have increased over the same period by an average of 19 percentage points. Targets for the second cycle primary education will have almost doubled from the baseline of 33.9 to 63.8%. The government also expects to have reduced the pupil teacher ration from the baseline of 71, 55 and 78 for primary first cycle, primary second cycle and secondary education to 54, 45 and 40 respectively. It is also expected that completion rate to grade five will more than double from the baseline of 57.4% to 136.6%. These targets require additional financing and it is difficult to imagine how they can be met without an adequate increase in education funding. The current and projected level of funding for the education sector is one of the lowest in Africa (UIS, 2007). The total budget for the current financial year is Birr 11.5 billion. ESDP II was under-funded by 17%. Official government records however indicate that this should not be a problem at all because a significant portion of program costs were funded by the community. It is not possible to: a). quantify community contribution because there are not documented; and, b). establish the extent of funding for gender specific programs due to lack of specific budget lines for gender programs and projects.
Engendered budget: Neither the process of budget making nor the actual budget document is engendered. There seems to be an implicit assumption that in the course of funding other education activities, gender will be a natural inclusion. The assumption stems from the identification of gender as a cross-cutting issue. One cannot identify specific budget gender budget lines in the national budget. The Gender and Equity Department in the MoE is administratively funded by the government. However, most of its programs are funded by donors. It is not possible to conclude that the absence of funding for specific gender programs is dues to lack of commitment to gender mainstreaming, mere ambivalence or lack of capacity to engender the budget. Most certainly, it is all these.
Two strategies are being employed to ensure that the process of budget making and allocation is engendered. First, UNICEF has been working jointly with the government in developing gender sensitive budgeting guidelines. The guidelines will be used as a tool to equip the budgeting officers with the relevant skills to help them mainstream gender in the national budget. While this is happening at the national level, a lot more will need to be done at the Woreda level where councils are responsible for allocating budgets and implementing education programs. Second, UNICEF, the British Council and the MoE
lvii have come together to use representatives in the Parliamentary budget committee and women’s affairs in the Parliament to ensure that the national budget is engendered. The department will also use the Women’s affairs minister to lobby for the right policies and programs to address gender specific issues in education. The strategy has to go down to the regional level
XI. Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Monitoring of education programs is done by MoE and UNICEF both jointly, and independently. An educational management information system (EMIS) is in place. A tool for regular collection of school based data was developed by a joint technical working group of MoE, the regions and donors. The tool captures data for formal primary to university. It does not include pre-school education (this is a major weakness). The data obtained provides the basis for the annual statistical abstracts. Data is collected from schools between October and December using this school level tool is not used much. Only a few of the data from the tool is reported in the abstracts. There is close working relationship between the education section and the monitoring and evaluation unit of UNICEF, and UNICEF with MoE. Currently, UNICEF is planning to work on integrating the MoE EMIS system and DevInfo to come up with EdInfo.
XII. Main challenges in M&E The 2004 Joint Review Mission noted that gender related data need to be analyzed and presented more prominently to highlight existing gender gaps (Ethiopia, 2006b). Though there are specific indicators for monitoring in both ESDP and PASDEP, they are weak, and require strengthening.
The EMIS captures education and does not include other indicators such as those in the household income and consumption surveys (HICS) which are essential in determining non schooling factors that nevertheless affect education directly.
While output monitoring is effectively captured in the indicators, there is no differentiation of the budget into how much goes to what sector, level or gender. The objectives are broadly defined, and mostly based on major pillars of MDG.
The quantitative monitoring indicators are well developed, but the qualitative ones very weak. Gender mainstreaming cannot be effectively captures using quantitative indicators only. The EMIS gives a crude analysis of the situation. No in-depth analysis of the data is done and remains a major weakness.
Equally weak are the process indicators. Even in the EMIS, it is difficult to capture these indicators mostly because of the focus on the MDGs which does not require reporting on the process. Data on curriculum implementation, resource availability, etc, remains problematic.
Other challenges in M&E include Preoccupation with tracking inputs (the CAGs), without giving much focus on results. There is more focus on input based management and not RBM.
lviii Low capacity of counterparts in M&E. Some work in progress in building the capacity, but even then, the reporting capacity at MoE is also low. Multiplicity of data sources and resulting disharmony. In some cases, data used for planning are based on the central statistical authority (CSA) sources, while in others are from the schools. There are also discrepancies between EMIS and household surveys, e.g. welfare monitoring survey (WMS). There are also HICS based data that may not tally with the school level data. Little focus on quality. There has been little attempt to determine whether the increases in major indices translate into quality. The focus on quantitative indicators may be compromising quality. For example, some of the schools are overburdened with high enrolments, but there has been no effort to gauge the impact of the high enrolment on quality of learning. Timeliness of reports. The annual generation of statistical abstracts may not come in August as usual. This delays decision making.
XIII. Challenges in Gender Mainstreaming As much as there has been serious effort in creating awareness and sensitizing different stakeholders on gender issues in education, there is no strong evidence on the ground that the situation has not fully changes. This is reflected in very high drop out rates (that averages 14.4%). Even though the national average rate of drop out for girls is marginally lower than boys (13.6% compared to 15%), it is much higher for girls in some areas, notably, Gambella and Somali (Ethiopia, 2005).
Technical capacity on gender mainstreaming is evidently weak. Most of the implementation of education programs is done at the Woreda levels whose officials do not fully understand and sometimes even appreciate gender equality concepts. Consequently, gender mainstreaming still remain a major challenge for Ethiopia. There are about 600 Woredas in Ethiopia and there is no indication so far that they have all been sensitized or given basic training in gender mainstreaming.
Compounding the problem of weak technical capacity is limited funding for gender specific programs. Having the Gender and Equity department is fine but in so long as there is no budgetary provisions for programs, there will be little progress on the gender front.
There is a wide gap between policy statements and financial commitments to support implementation. As long as the budget is not engendered, mainstreaming will only remain theoretical. Some programs like the girls’ scholarship scheme, are not pronounced and cannot make a major impact in eliminating gender disparities.
Despite affirmative action to enroll more females in the competitive programs, statistics on TVET enrolment trends shows that female students are still confined to the soft sciences. For instance, all the 412 students in health sciences courses in Tigray in 2004/2005 were female. In Addis Ababa, there was no male student in hotel services, and only 10 (1.7%) of the 585 secretarial students were male (Ethiopia, 2007). The proportion of female students in all agricultural TVET programs is only 12%.
lix Only a few children, mostly in the urban areas, join grade one with the relevant pre- school experience. Weak foundations lead to early drop out and even repetition among boys and girls alike.
Even though one of the policy objectives of ESDP III is making schools friendlier to girls, the detailed project description is silent on its implementation. There is no certainty therefore that this objective will be realized in the lifespan of the current ESDP.
As conceptualized in the ESDP, the school improvement program is limited and not inclusive enough. There is need to provide technical assistance to the ministry of education to develop a comprehensive SIP program that has a strong gender foundation. Currently, its basic features are limited to: school leadership and management, parent and community partnership, student centred learning, professional development and collaboration and quality instructional program.
Understanding quality and quality assurance mechanisms seems to be problematic. The ESDP III indicates that the government will in the short term use proxy quality indicators - PTR, percent of qualified teachers, etc - to determine quality. While these are good enough, it is not exhaustive, as there are very many other variables that go into determining quality learning.
XIV. Conclusions The government has put in places policies and intentions to close the gender gap in education. Some of the measures at the national level include: affirmative action; adoption of the national gender policy, the establishment of gender units in ministries, ministry of women’s affairs, and a host of school and community specific measures to make learning more friendly, schools more accessible and communities more supportive of the education programs.
The high political will notwithstanding, challenges remain at the regional level. This needs to be augmented with strong technical capacity for gender mainstreaming especially at the Woreda level. This is where actual implementation of education programs takes place. The Woredas are mostly composed of men who may neither understand nor appreciate the importance of gender mainstreaming and gender equity.
The government’s commitment to a democratic culture and participatory approach to planning is beneficial to the cause of gender mainstreaming. This commitment is emphasized in the national constitution that is strongly rights based. Pupils have become aware of their rights and are able to demand their rights from the government. The constitution thus provides a supportive framework for the implementation of gender specific programs in education as indeed in other sectors.
A major constraint to effectively addressing the gender issues is lack of funding for gender specific programs in the national and regional budgets. Even thought there are gender specific targets in the current ESDP and PASDEP. This limitation should be
lx addressed. As it is now, there is a wide gap between policy intents and actual commitments.
It appears that UNICEF remains at the forefront in gender mainstreaming programs of the education sector. Other players need to be brought on board to augment the technical and financial support that UNICEF is currently providing. There seems to be no mechanism for collective implementation of the gender programs in education, the SWAp notwithstanding.
There is a near absence of the private sector input in the education program as a whole and gender related ones in particular. The SWAp process should provide a good framework for involvement of the industry, faith based institutions as well as philanthropy in supporting gender programs. The FBOs can be powerful partners in breaking the male domination and other forms of cultural impediments to gender mainstreaming especially at the community level.
Decentralization of service provision was implemented very fast and within a short period of time when the current government came to power. There was not enough time to capacity build the regional administrative units on several aspects of service provision, including engendering development. Nevertheless, efforts are being made through the gender and equity department to enhance the capacity of the Woredas.
Pre-school education is not accessible to the majority, mostly because it is privately provided and the costs are beyond the ability of the average Ethiopian. The few public ECD centres are run by communities. The government has come up to strongly support pre-school education in the current sector plan.
The focus on MDGs is a major limitation in a sector wide improvement program. The MDGs do not emphasize pre-school education. Using the MDGs as guidelines for designing national plans and budgets can therefore be deleterious to the sub-sector. It is possible that the absence of state funding for pre-school education is mainly because the PASDEP and ESDP are anchored on MDGs.
B: Kenya
I). Overall Comments The educational process in Kenya is about gaining lost ground. At the dawn of Jomtien conference in 1990, Kenya had attained a GER of 95% in primary education. The gains were to be wiped out by the implementation of cost sharing program in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The GER declined to a low of 76% (Deolalikar, 1999). The Dakar meeting was held against a backdrop of low enrolment at all levels, with more girls being out of school than boys. Strides have been made to equalize access especially at the primary level.
lxi The current policy environment is clear on addressing four challenges: access and equity, retention, relevance and quality. The policy framework is forthright on the challenges facing the sector, and recognises gender inequality as a serious obstacle to the realisation of the right to education and lost opportunities in human capital formation. As the country strives to recoup the lost opportunities, new targets are formulated for all levels of education. Sector objectives and strategies have clear statements that reflect commitment to gender mainstreaming at all levels and in all spheres.
But challenges remain. Girls trail boys in examinations and there is clear evidence of specialisation asymmetries in primary, secondary and university level. Affirmative action to increase participation of women is gaining political support at the macro level. Its implementation in education, particularly on headship of educational institutions (schools and other important national institutions), though largely progressing well, still confront the challenge of male domination.
III. Participation in Education Participation Inhibitors at a Glance a). Pre-Primary Lack of positive role models – especially in the Participation in pre-school education in Kenya rural and remote areas with fewer women remains low. One of the downsides of the teachers to act as positive role models for girls. free primary education is direct enrolment of Inappropriate infrastructural facilities and most children especially from poor families in equipment makes it difficult to mainstream grade one, meaning that many children are gender in primary education. Distance to school more so in arid and semi arid entering formal primary schooling without parts of the country affects girls more than boys any pre-school experience. A trend analysis due to security concerns of enrolment patterns in the last seven years HIV/AIDS and lack of life skills - girls are more (2000 – 2006) for this level indicates a affected by the HIV/ AIDS pandemic since they consistent three percentage point higher GER often become the caregivers for their sick for boys than girls. Overall GER has parents, relatives and siblings. Poverty - girls are also the first to drop out of remained below 60%, despite the number of school when the family economy is strained. ECD institutions increasing to over 33,000 in Religion - or its misinterpretation acts as a barrier 2006 (MoE EMIS data, 2007). to girls’ education, thus perpetuating their marginalization in society. b). Primary Child labour is rampant among the poor where Though there was near parity in GPI in children, and especially girls, are often withdrawn from school to engage in domestic primary education (0.99) by 2000, the overall work while boys drop out of school to work in GER was low at 87.6, with girls’ ratio commercial farms, fishing and petty businesses. standing at 87.1%, one percentage point lower Gender insensitive school environment - includes than boys. By 2002, GER had improved the attitudes of the key stakeholders in the school marginally to 88.2%. Implementation of FPE (administrators, teachers and students), gender insensitive school infrastructure and amenities from 2003 has improved participation in (water and sanitation, availability of sanitary primary education tremendously. The GER towels for girls, curriculum and teaching/learning increased to 102.8% in 2003, rising further to materials, such as textbooks, pedagogy, school 107.2% in 2005, with the girls’ ratio standing management, and guidance and counseling). at 104.4% compared to 109.9% in 2005 respectively. Total NER stood at 83.2% 2005 (boys = 83.8%; girls = 82.6%). Slightly
lxii more boys (68.2%) complete primary school than girls (66.5%). The current rate from primary to secondary is 61% but is not desegregated by gender.
Secondary education Like in ECD, GER for secondary education remains low, at less than one third. In 2000, GER was only 22.2% (23.3% boys and 20.9% girls) (MoEST EMIS, 2001). By 2005, it improved by eight percentage points to 30.2% (31.3% for boys and 29.1% for girls). The NER for secondary education recorded an increase of 4 percentage points from 19.4% in 2004 to 19.8% in 2005. The difference between girls (19.4%) and boys (20.1%) is marginal. Notably, the completion rate for boys (91.5%) is four percentage points higher than for girls (87.5).
IV. Access to educational materials/resources and facilities Kenya launched the Free Primary Education Support Program (FPESP) to provide grants for purchase of learning and teaching materials, funds for general purposes and resource management in primary schools, in-servicing of teachers, inadequate physical facilities, health and sanitation, gender insensitive environments, barriers to access for those with special needs including the girls and inadequacies in quality assurance. The program supported 7.6 million in formal public primary schools and a further 300,000 in the NFS in 2006. The Textbook Pupil Ratio (TPR) has improved from around 15:1 to about 3:1 in lower primary and 2:1 in upper primary.
Funds are disbursed directly to schools in two accounts: the School Instructional Materials Bank Account (SIMBA) and the General Purpose Account (GPA). The monies have enabled head teachers, School Management Committees (SMCs) and School Instructional Materials Committees (SIMCs) to procure their requirements and improve on infrastructure.
At the secondary level, the MoE is implementing a targeted program aimed at improving the provision of teaching and learning materials as well as laboratory/science equipment. The total allocation for science equipment/laboratory stood at KShs 170 million in 2005/06. The program targets at least ten schools per district. Secondary schools in some 28 Arid and Semi Arid districts also receive grants to improve infrastructure and school facilities (MoE, 2007).
V. Teachers The government, through the Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC), employs primary and secondary teachers, while ECD teachers are employed variously by the community, local authorities, private providers/entrepreneurs and non governmental and faith based organisations. The total number of ECDE teachers (trained and untrained) increased from 63,650 in 2003 to 72,182 in 2005 out of which 70.6 percent are trained.
Teachers employed by TSC for primary and secondary schools constitute 96% percent of all (235,000) teachers. The remaining 4% is distributed among special and technical education institutions. In 2006, there were a total of 162,993 primary school teachers, out of which females were 44.6% and males 55.4%. Kenya has achieved remarkable
lxiii progress in teacher training. Only 921 or 0.6% of teachers were untrained by 2006. The difference between female and male teachers is negligible. The Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) in primary schools is 43:1. In secondary schools, the PTR is still low at 19.1.
Gender disparities in enrolment in secondary teacher education remain high. Between 1999 and 2003, the average enrolment of females in primary teacher training colleges was 49.6%, 44.3% in secondary teacher training colleges and 53.1% in special education teacher training programs. At the university level, enrolment in teacher education degree programs reveals wide gender disparities in favour of males. In the 2002/2003 to 2004/2005 academic years only 39.8% of those enrolled in teacher education degree programs in public universities were female.
VI. Performance in examinations The end of primary education in Kenya is marked by the writing of Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations. In as much as progress is being made on various fronts, performance in examinations reveals both obvious and subtle differences between girls and boys (Table 24).
Table 24: KCPE Raw Mean Score by Gender and Subject, 2002 - 2005 2003 2004 2005 Subject Category Male Female Male Female Male Female Gender 49.27 49.74 49.17 49.93 49.06 49.96 English Total 49.50 49.54 49.48 Gender 48.91 50.14 49.16 49.86 48.89 50.17 Kiswahili Total 49.50 49.50 49.50 Gender 51.61 47.22 51.54 47.47 51.49 47.30 Math Total 49.49 49.60 49.50 Gender 52.83 45.86 52.23 46.48 52.63 45.99 Science Total 49.47 49.48 49.48 Gender 52.37 46.43 51.89 46.86 51.97 46.74 GHC Total 49.50 49.49 49.49 Source: KNEC, 2005
The three years under comparison do not reveal any difference in examination scores. It is also notable that overall performance is about 50%. It is important to note that the subjects where pupils have attained more than the average pass mark are Science, GHC and Math, even though boys seem to do better in these subjects than girls.
Girls register relatively better performance in the languages while boys outperform girls in mathematics and science. But still, girls’ better performance on the languages is negligible compared to boys’ better performance in the sciences. On the former, in 2004 for instance, girls scored better than boys by less than a percentage point, while boys register 4.1 percentage points better than girls in Mathematics, 7 percentage points better in Science and 5 percentage points better in GHC. This pattern is virtually replicated in the other two years.
lxiv VII. The Education for All – Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI) Window Kenya received US$ 24.2 million from the EFA-FTI catalytic fund in December, 2005. The grant supported the government’s plan to achieve EFA by 2015 as outlined in the KESSP. The FTI funds were disbursed to the public primary schools for instruction materials. The funds catalyzed a dramatic increase in the textbook/pupil ratios. The Standard 1 ratio for Math went from a ratio of 1:5 - 1:40 to 1:4 in Lower and 1:3 in Upper primary. A review of the education sector in early 2006, revealed that the national student/book ratio ranged between 2:1 to 6:1 in lower primary and 2:1 to 4:1 in upper primary (Kenya, 2006). The results of the FPESP Baseline Survey on learning achievement indicated that among the five most important school related factors on test scores was the adequacy of funds provided by MoE for textbooks/teaching materials. The provision of textbooks is also having a positive impact on pupils’ attendance. A review of the impact of textbooks on pupil attendance and learning revealed that: i) reading time in classrooms has increased from 2 to 3 minutes per lesson to 16 minutes; and, ii) poorer children and poorer schools are doing better under the FPE Policy and Program than average schools.
Though the FTI funds are not earmarked for gender specific programs, there is evidence of sustained increases in overall enrolment rates and retention as well as of reasonably good financial management practices at the school level. It is positively contributing to the fulfilment of the objectives of not only the FPE but also KESSP as the ministry maintains it pro-poor orientation of budgeting and resource targeting. In 2007/08, Kenya is to receive a second grant of US$ 48.4 million.
VIII. The Policy Front It is not completely possible to look at sector policies independently of legislation. A number of policies are first legislated before being implemented, while some legislation requires specific policies to implement them. a). The Statutory Realm: In the Kenya, as in most other countries, education is recognised as a basic human right in the constitution. A draft constitutional bill rejected in 2005 (but which may still be implemented later) commits the Government to implement affirmative action in policies and programs to benefit individual or disadvantaged groups in accessing education and gainful employment; participation in governance; and guarantees equal political rights and freedom from discrimination, exploitation or abuse.
The government did recognise the need to give force to international covenants like the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. But it also needed to address related issues such as early marriages; Female Genital Mutilation (FGM); right to survival; health and medical care; education; protection from child labour, sexual exploitation, prostitution, harmful drugs, among others. It therefore enacted of the Children’s Act in 2001. The law accorded boys and girls equal education opportunities through the free primary education program. b). Policy Environment: The current policy blueprint for education sector in Kenya is the Sessional Paper No. 1 of 2005 on education, training and research. The policy is candid on the challenges facing the sector. It recognizes the limitations to
lxv equalizing access, participation and outcomes for girls and boys. It also spells out clear strategies to mainstream gender in all levels of education. To operationalize the policy, the government drafted the Kenya Education Sector Support Program (KESSP). KESSP is a comprehensive sector program focusing on identified priorities developed through an extensive consultative process. The goal of the KESSP is to provide quality education all by 2010. Its four program objectives are: (i) ensuring equity of access to basic education; (ii) enhancing quality and learning achievement; (iii) providing opportunities for further education and training; and, (iv) strengthening education sector management. KESSP is articulated in 23 Investment Programs (IPs) designed in pursuit of these goals.
The challenge of limited access to primary education led the government in declaring free primary education in 2003. The objective was to accord every child, girl and boy, equal basic educational opportunities to achieve gender parity in primary education. However, more girls than boys still experience obstacles in school enrolment, participation and transition, due to socio-cultural practices. In 2007, the government also adopted tuition fee waiver for secondary education students beginning 2008. This is expected to lower the cost burden of parents and encourage more enrolment of girls, who are invariably barred by cost factors more than boys. The government is also allowing girls who drop out of primary and secondary schools due to pregnancies to re-enter and complete their education. At the university level, the Government is implementing some affirmative actions as lowering entry mark for increased admission of female students to public universities.
The draft National Policy on Gender and Development will facilitate the mainstreaming of the needs and concerns of men and women in all areas in the development process. The policy has made several important suggestions in respect of regulatory and institutional reforms that can be undertaken to ensure that obstacles to equitable and sustainable development are removed. It identifies key forms of discrimination in respect of customary law, the law of succession, and citizenship as well as cultural biases against women perpetuated by the patriarchal social structure of Kenyan communities. MoE has also prepared a draft gender and education policy that is currently being discussed by stakeholders.
A comprehensive Draft National Employment Policy that mainstreams women’s rights in employment and bans child labour has been formulated. In addition, recommendations of a Task Force appointed to review labour laws also address gender imbalances in employment and labour practices. Additionally, a policy on ECD is in place, and a draft policy on OVCs has also been drafted by the office of the Vice President.
The policy environment is therefore reasonably solid and should help mainstream gender in education, to the extent that they recognise gender as a cross-cutting variable and lays down clear strategies for addressing gender inequalities.
Complementarity: UNGEI and Kenya Education Program In Kenya, UNGEI is focusing on children in ASAL (Arid and Semi-Arid) districts in northern parts of the country. Other activities implemented within the UNGEI
lxvi framework include: embedding gender in the education SWAp, using FTI funds to improve girls’ education, gender mainstreaming in education policies, conducting gender audits on national education policies, using GEM to empower girls
IX. Education SWAp Kenya has a strong SWAp in place (KESSP). There are two reviews of the SWAp annually. The budget review is done in March, while the joint technical sector review is done in September/October. The SWAp process is helpful to the extent of recognising gender as one of the main investment programs. KESSP provides an intervention for the girl child education through improvement of sanitation – including the provision of sanitary materials. Other international organisations like GOAL Kenya in Nairobi provide training for girls to make their own sanitary pads. The Forum for African Women Educationalists Kenya Chapter (FAWE-K) provides also training for girls to make their own sanitary pads from low-cost materials all over the country. The MoE has also put in place a program to improve toilet facilities. In 2006, MoE made a one-time grant of Kshs. 50,000 to schools, designed to ensure a minimum of one toilet per school. However, the number of toilets in schools remains inadequate for the needs of girls during their menses. A lack of running water and/or sanitary pads creates additional challenges for girls.
X. Projects/programs to encourage education of girls The government has put in place a number of initiatives to address gender concerns in education. Among them are the following. Legal issues are being addressed through a harmonized framework and gender issues are addressed in all programs. The National Plan of Action on EFA 2003-2015, the Draft Gender Policy, the Report of the Education Sector Review 2003, draft Strategic Plan 2006-2011, the Sessional Paper No. 1 of 2005 and the KESSP (2005-2010), have all paid attention to gender and education. The Government has also ratified a number of protocols and conventions with a bearing on gender equality. The Government has also set up a Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services and the Gender Commission. The Ministry of Education set up a National Task force for Gender and Education, a Ministerial Task force on Girls’ Education, and a Gender Desk. Apart from initiating FPE the government has committed huge sums of money from its own sources. This has brought on board many girls who were formally locked out of education. Equity and quality in the achievement of education are also given priority in the Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation (2003-2007). Through the policy document the Government has undertaken to make primary education accessible and achievable, with special focus on girls and other marginalized groups through: - Expanded opportunities and funding education in the Arid and Semi Arid Lands (ASAL), including boarding facilities and establishment of feeder schools for lower grades 1 – 4 to encourage young children, and especially girls, at the tender age to access learning closer to home.
lxvii - Improved girls’ access, retention and participation through provision of water and sanitation facilities. Priority is given to men who apply for recruitment in Early Childhood Development teacher training. Almost all ECD teachers currently are female. Introduction of HIV/AIDs life skills in schools and colleges to create awareness and empower girls and boys to protect their lives from the pandemic. A gender responsive curriculum and relevant gender friendly instructional materials have been developed and produced for the learners. Bursary allocation to the needy for secondary school level and targeting an additional 5% exclusively for girls. Supply of science equipment to girl’s schools in order to promote performance in Mathematics and other Science subjects. Adopting affirmative action to ensure gender balance in the teachers training colleges Re-entry is encouraged by re-admitting girls who would otherwise drop out of school due to unplanned pregnancies and other causes At the universities level an affirmative action is adopted and women are admitted at one point lower than men, a measure which has witnessed girls increase in enrolment at the university.
XI. Education Budget and Gender Sensitive Budgeting Two issues are critical here. First is whether the budget is subjected to gender analysis. The second is the level of funding for gender specific programs, or programs that have an impact on gender mainstreaming. The education budget has not been subjected to gender analysis so far. Stakeholders in education discuss the budget twice. The first is during the annual medium term expenditure framework (MTEF) budget hearings that are held in February. Second is during the budget workshop that brings together the government, development patterns and other stakeholders in education. Discussions during this time require presentation of budgets for each of the investment programs. The gender program does not get as much prominence during these discussions.
The education budget for the last two years indicate that the gender investment program was earmarked to get Ksh. 11 million in the 2005/06 FY, but was only allocated Ksh. 2 million, leaving a shortfall of Ksh. 9 million. In the following FY (2006/07), it was expected to spend Ksh. 11.4 million, but had not received any funding by September of that year (Kenya, 2007b). However, detailed component description shows that the program was initially funded to the tune of Ksh. 20m in 2006/07 but this was upped to Ksh. 45 million. In the initial plan, the entire sum of Ksh. 20 million was earmarked for one activity (girls’ and women’s participation and performance in education). The revised funding of Ksh 45 million is not distributed among the six components: i) Gender Education Policy; ii) Improved Gender Based Enrolment and Retention; Iii) Girls and Women Participation & Performance in Education; iv) Sanitary Materials and Sanitation in Schools; v) Capacity Development on Gender; vi) Monitoring and Evaluation.
lxviii The finer details of one of the components funded to the tune of Ksh 20 million (girls’ and women’s participation and performance in education) is not very clear. In fact, it is not even clear whether these funds were eventually spent on the specific component.
XII. UNICEF Anchoring UNICEF is supporting the Government in its efforts to: Improve the teaching learning processes in order to ensure that quality is not compromised as the government implements Free Primary Education. Promote linkages with other sectors, such as Water, Environment and Sanitation, and Health and Nutrition. Build capacity at local levels for planning, implementation and monitoring of girls education interventions. Increase opportunities for girls' access to education through social mobilization, advocacy and service delivery. Supporting a special girls’ education scholarship program in North Eastern Province to encourage girls to access quality secondary education. Work with AGEI District Education Officers to establish data bases for monitoring and reporting on project interventions.
UNICEF, together with the Government and its partners, has accomplished the following: A national girls’ education policy has been developed and is awaiting enactment by parliament. In collaboration with government, UNAIDS and the National AIDS council, HIV/AIDS curriculum and materials for teacher training and for primary and secondary HIV/AIDS education have been completed. In collaboration with government, WFP, the Embassy of Japan and local communities, non-operational Arid Zone boarding schools have been rehabilitated and/or revived as boarding wings for nomadic children, especially girls. Through integration of water, sanitation and environment (WES) and basic education sections, water and latrines have been provided in a significant number of primary schools. The government passed “Children Act Bill 2001” and UNICEF is facilitating its dissemination. UNICEF, UNESCO and government organized consultative meetings to develop an EFA National Plan of Action. In collaboration with government, DFID, GTZ and Oxfam Quebec, provided primary school textbooks and vocational training equipment and tools to non-formal Education centres. The Arid Land Management Project has provided transportation of school supplies and materials for school improvement. UNICEF in collaboration with other development partners, other ministries and the private sector has supported government in implementation of Free Primary Education by providing pupils' and teachers' education and recreational kits to formal schools and NFE centres. In collaboration with government, UNICEF provided in-service training to about 5000 primary school, NFE and ECD teachers in 9 districts on child-centred, interactive and participatory methods and established 72 school clusters.
lxix Future Plans UNICEF will work with the Government and its partners at the national level, and with nomadic/pastoralist communities to do the following: Disseminate the newly developed national policy on girls’ education. Train communities in education planning, gender and rights-based approaches, monitoring and evaluation, and other interventions that will increase girls’ enrolment, retention, and completion rates in the focus districts by at least 30% by the end of 2003. Promote and provide access to alternative and complementary approaches, e.g., non- formal education (NFE) literacy, numeracy, vocational and life skills for out-of- school children and youth. Strengthen education on HIV/AIDS prevention and care of orphans. Improve the quality of schooling through teacher education and development, providing key equipment and learning materials for formal schools and NFE centres for girls, producing learning and teaching materials, provision of water and sanitation and introducing strategies for data collection and utilization. Promote an integrated approach in the implementation of ECD, HIV/AIDS and formal primary, and NFE sub-projects.
XIII. Girls’ Education in the Press The Kenyan press has been active in reporting gender issues in education. In the 1990s, focus was more on the enrolment levels, but attention is increasingly being given to the differences in performance, subject specialisation and admission to university education. An article on “Good Teachers Lay Firm Foundation” (Ojwang, 2004) focused on the stereotypes that are espoused even by teachers and which discourage girls from taking sciences (Plate 1). Plate 1: Press Depiction of Gender Bias On the left, the teacher is cautioning girls “Don’t dream of doing science. It is difficult for you….er…home science, may be”. On the right, he is telling the boy “Good boy one day, you will be a great scientist!”. The teacher immediately dispirits the girls while at the same time fires up the boy’s ego to dream and work hard to be a scientist.
Source: East African Standard, January 29, 2004
Plate 1 demonstrates the degree of interest in and the clarity with which the press understands and portrays gender stereotyping in the education system and the deleterious impacts it is having on the education of the girl child.
lxx Harmful traditional practices that inhibit girls’ education have received reasonable coverage in the media. One of these is the scourge of female genital mutilation (FGM). The degree to which FGM affects girls’ education in areas practicing it was the focus of Nyasato’s article “FGM Still a Threat to Learning” in the standard of December 27, 2003. But the campaigns against these practices are yielding fruit. In an article “Girl, 12, leaves marriage for school”, Ringa (2003), reports the case of a brave 12-year-old girl who walked out of marriage after three years and went back to school to take advantage of the free primary education. This story highlights the reality of the confluence of economic hardship and cultural practices in hindering participation of girls.
The differential performance of boys and girls, both in the candidature and examination scores have received important attention every time examinations results are released. Kinuthia (2004) reports on the wide disparities between girls and boys in KCSE. He reports that girls only performed better than boys in English, Kiswahili, CRE, HRE, Art and Design, Home Science, Woodwork, German and Music. Overall, performance in mathematics and sciences was below average. In 2006, there were reports of improved girls’ performance in the 2005 examinations, with girls’ candidature also increasing, even if marginally (Hongo, 2006).
There is some good analytical reporting in the press. One example is Nyaga’s (2004) article “Taboos That Frustrate Teens’ Right to Choose Choices”. Though this article appreciates an UNFPA report for delving into debates on why discussions on sexual behaviour is taboo in many countries, and why large numbers of young people do not have the information or skills to refuse or negotiate safer sex practices. It refutes that lack of information is so crucial an issue, pointing out that indeed, most of what is heard on radio, TV, streets and in public service vehicles - in and outside Kenya - is one or another form of sex talk. It notes that in Kenya, as in many other African countries, the powerful HIV/Aids NGO lobby has ensured that HIV/Aids education (read sex education) is sneaked into the syllabus and taught in primary school from Standard Four onwards.
An interesting debate in Kenya is the kind of disciplinary measures that should be meted out to students. Kenya banned corporal punishment in 2001 but some parents and teachers have argued that this is a recipe for chaos in schools. Lacey (2006) in an article, “Spare The Rod and Spoil the Country, a Kenyan Warns” in New York Times, reports of a teacher in Mutongoni, Kenya who is disillusioned by ban on caning, and who has taken the government to court to reinstate controlled corporal punishment. This support is despite documented evidence of serious effects of corporal punishment, and cites one case of a girl who lost an eye when she was caned in 2003. The message the article passes across is that corporal punishment can be extremely detrimental to both boys and girls.
It is also clear from the above presentation that in Kenya, press coverage of gender issues is varied among the various media houses. One of the popular papers with a consistent, regular coverage of education issues is the East African Standard. The rest of the papers
lxxi would give prominence to education when there is a major educational event. This mainly tend to be during the writing of examinations, release or results or when there is an event graced by an important official.
XIV. Conclusion Kenya is making remarkable progress in achieving the EFA and MDG goals for education. At the dawn of the Jomtien meeting, Kenya had achieved notable milestones. The implementation of the structural adjustment programs almost wiped out all the gains made earlier. The Dakar meeting was therefore held against a backdrop of lost ground due to the impact of cost sharing that particularly affected girls. The reforms initiated in 2003 with the implementation of free primary education, followed by the declaration of tuition fee waiver in secondary education, offers the best chance to reclaim lost ground and chart a new course for the sector. Indeed, a number of new initiatives have been put in place to improve overall access, retention, quality and relevance as well as specifically focusing on improving girls’ education. Evidence already reveals success in bridging the gender gap. Nevertheless, challenges remain, and there are specific areas that still require immediate attention.
Despite progress and good policy intents, enrolment of females in teacher training programs is skewed in favour of boys, especially at the secondary level. Part of the reason is that fewer girls attain the necessary qualifying grades at the end of secondary education to qualify for entry in these colleges. The same goes for specialization in specific subject areas. Girls are still predominant in the arts and humanities, home science programs. Performance in the hard sciences is low, while they perform better in languages. This trend systematically marginalizes girls in the longer term.
A challenge for policy makers and implementation agents is that of what to do about girls’ and women’s multiple gender roles. The government recognizes that girls and women have, by far, more gender roles to play than boys and men, which leave them with little time for active participation in education. The school system is therefore unfair to girls in the sense that it expects them to perform as well as boys in the placement examinations when they have little time for self study compared to boys.
The policy environment is generally conducive and recognizes that need to mainstream gender in the education system. Both the Sessional Paper and the KESSP have clear strategies for mainstreaming as well as reasonable targets to achieve gender equity. Some are being realized, like equality of access in primary education, but challenges remain in ECD, secondary as well as equality of outcomes at all levels, including primary. The population of girls in subsequent levels of education declines notably, so that at the university level, there are only about 34% girls (Kenya, 2007a).
The drive to achieve gender equality in education does not result from the implementation of only gender specific programs. A number of programs implemented benefit learners irrespective of gender. Examples of such programs are provision of teaching and learning materials including textbooks. Improvement in the TPR as a result is uniform for girls and boys. However, teacher preparation and training have specific
lxxii gender dimensions and the government must still address the imbalances in admission to training institutions, deployment, balance between rural and urban, etc, which all impact differentially on girls and boys. On the same breadth, there are a number of projects in the SWAp process having an impact in improving access and participation. But a number are also done by stakeholders independently outside the SWAp process. One example is the project by GOAL Kenya that aims at providing sanitary towels to girls in selected primary schools. These initiatives should be supported within the current SWAp process.
C: Malawi
II. Overall Comments Much of the progress in achieving gender equity is due to the interventions by development partners, notably UNICEF. The UNICEF supported schools have been able to enroll more girls than the public schools. The public system must therefore strive to achieve greater efficiency even without external support. Second, strategies to reduce drop out have been weak in both the public non UNICEF supported and the UNICEF supported schools. This is evidenced by the high drop out rates in the two categories of schools.
Funding for education also increased by a significant 26.9% in 2003/2004 FY to MK 6.8 million of the total budget. Like most other African and developing countries, the bulk (80%) of this goes to salaries, leaving little for development.
The MPRSP has, as one of its main strategic components, human capital development that emphasizes education and health. At the primary level, it focuses on improving access and equity by emphasizing special needs and girls’ education. Equity is also emphasized at secondary level, alongside improvement in quality, relevance and management services in secondary education. 80% of women illiterate.
III. Participation in Education Enrolment data is available for only primary and secondary levels. ECD is under a different ministry. It was not possible to get data for this level. b). Primary Malawi has performed fairly well in bridging the gender gap in enrolment at both primary and secondary levels, thanks to the abolition of primary school fees in 1994. Girls constituted 50.5% of school enrolment in primary and 50.41% in secondary schools respectively. This is a remarkable improvement compared to the immediate period that followed the implementation of the free primary education when (Kadzamira, 2006).
Whereas strategies in enrolment have worked well, challenges remain on retaining children in school. According to the UNDAF (2008 – 2011: 22-23), over 10% of eligible primary children are not in school. Of those who enroll, only 40% reach grade 4. There is high drop out rate averaging 15%, while primary completion rate is low at 26% and for
lxxiii girls at only 16%. Repetition is also high at 25%. Additionally, not all schools have access to clean water and separate sanitary facilities for boys and girls. This hinders attendance for girls in the higher grades, consequently leading to drop out.
Table 25: Selected Primary Education Indicators, 2006 Indicator Female Male Total GER 121 123 122 NER 104 103 104 Repetition 17 17 17 Survival to Std. 52.9 53.3 53 Survival to Std. 8 27.2 31.9 29.6 Drop out 16 14 16 Completion 22 26 25 Source: Malawi (2006)
Girls may have equal chance of enrolling in primary school with boys, but their survival in the system is lower as evident from the two percentage point more likelihood of dropping out than boys. Fewer girls also complete primary education compared to boys. c). Secondary education The gender differences in primary education are also evident in secondary level. By 2000, girls accounted for less than 40% of all secondary school enrolments ((Kadzamira, et.al., 2001). This has marginally increased to 43% by 2006, meaning that 57% of all secondary school students are boys. The low proportion of girls is both due to low transition from the primary level as well as high drop out rate (of the very few who enroll) that stands at 16% for girls against 10% for boys (Malawi, 2006). Overall drop out rate is 12%.
IV. Access to textbooks The government of Malawi, with the support of the Canadian Development Agency (CIDA), launched the Textbooks Government Support to Education Sector (GSES) project out of a realization that FPE came up with a huge demand of textbooks. The project reproduces books by tendering out internationally. Once produced and brought to Malawi, project distributes by CIDA. Initially housed at CIDA but from 2006, based at MoE. There are enough books for primary schools in Malawi. SEE ABSTRACT.
However, UNICEF (2007) notes that the teaching and learning materials are still largely inadequate, resulting in limited use of child centered learning methodologies.
V. Teachers Gender differences in the teaching force in Malawi is striking. By 1999, females constituted 40% of the teaching force, while in secondary, they comprised only 20% ((Kadzamira, et.al., 2001). However, only 37% of female teachers were qualified, compared to 63% of the males. It is not possible to get the proportion of trained teachers as the EMIS data only gives raw numbers. Of Malawi’s 4,358 (10% of entire teaching force) untrained teachers, females constitute 64%. By 2007, the teacher to pupil ratio is a high of 1:107 (UNICEF, 2007)xiii. An important feature of teacher distribution is the low
lxxiv number of female teachers in rural areas, a fact that directly affects the participation of girls in school.
VI. Performance in examinations Tables 26 and 27 summarises the performance in Malawi Primary School Leaving Examinations (MPSLE) and Malawi Schools Certificate Examinations (MSCE) over a four year period.
Table 26: Malawi Primary School Leaving Examinations, 2002 - 2005
Table 27: Malawi School Certificate Examinations (MSCE), 2002 – 2005
Consistent better performance by boys in all the years under comparison shows the degree of gender disparity. In 2005, boys’ performance was better than girls’ by more 10 percentage points. The pattern is replicated in MSCE (Table 28). In fact, the differences tend to be wider in SCE. In 2004 for instance, girls trailed boys by more than 11 percentage points, virtually stagnating the following year with a gap of more than 10 percentage points. In education systems where progression to the next level is determined by a pupil’s performance in lower level examinations (as in most of ESAR), the tendency is for boys who register better performance to dominate subsequent level of schooling to the detriment of girls. The problem is aggravated in those countries with limited secondary education opportunities. Indeed, analysis in Part III shows that expansion of secondary education opportunities is one of the challenges facing most ESAR countries, and the African continent.
VII. The Education for All – Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI) Window: Malawi has not so far benefited from the EFA-FTI program but is contemplating submitting a request in 2008 after completion of NESP.
VIII. The Policy Front The policy framework for the Malawi education is still evolving. Having developed the Policy and Investment Framework in 2001, the government is currently finalizing the National Education Sector Plan (NESP) that covers the period 2007 – 2016. Together with the Malawi poverty reduction strategy paper (MPRSP), the broad national policy
lxxv framework aims at facilitating the achievement of MDG goals of universal primary education and the elimination of gender disparity in primary and secondary education. There is evidence of progress.
Two other policies are complementing the overall national education policy framework. The Malawi National Policy on Orphans and Vulnerable Children is anchored on human rights, community support and sensitization. The Malawi National HIV/AIDS prioritizes prevention of HIV infection and ameliorating its impact on individuals, families, communities and the Malawian nation. An effective pre-school program is a pre-requisite to successful learning in the next basic cycle. The Malawi National Policy on Early Childhood Development aims at promoting a good start to schooling. There is also a National Gender Policy that informs programming in other sectors.
All the efforts of the Malawi government crystallizes in the National Education Sector Plan. The NESP is supposed to prepare for the implementation of a SWAp. As stated in the document, the NESP provides a strong basis for a SWAp by mapping issues across the whole sector and presenting a complete picture of issues, needs and major strategies and priorities until its finalization and implementation, there is effectively no SWAp is place, even though there is a donor coordination forum with a code of ethics that define their collaboration with the government. Cooperation between the government and development partners is done on the basis of mutual understanding. The NESP is woven around a complex labyrinth of policy documents. This should have naturally posed a major problem in the designing of a SWAp. The overall framework for Malawi’s development is the Vision 2020. Other policy blueprints include the PIF, the MGDS, the MDGs, SADC Commitments, the EFA Natonal Action Plan. The advantage for UNICEF is the harmony of the MTSP goals with both the MDGs and EFA, which the Malawi government has prioritized.
Readmission policy: Previously, the policy was that pregnant girls would automatically lose their place in school. This has changed from 1993 when a policy was enacted to ensure that the girl and whoever is responsible would be readmitted. A breakthrough in 2007 is the government’s acceptance for revision and updating of admission procedures that came up in 1993. It is a gender sensitive tool in the management of schools. It spells out procedures for readmission and protection of those affected. After one year, both responsible can come back to school. It has also empowered every level - the school, district, divisional and headquarters level. Everyone is aware of what to do, unlike before.
FAWE Malawi has done a lot of sensitization and community mobilization to support the readmission policy in particular and girls’ education in general. Structures have been put in place at the community level. For instance, there are mother groups supposed to ensure that girls are enrolled. They talk to girls and parents as well as the community. In Salima, for instance, a Moslem community, where there is a lot of resistance, there is change. The Moslem leaders are coming and insisting that girls go to school. There are punitive measures by the Traditional Authorityxiv Maganga in Salima has been ensuring that every school going age pupil goes to school. Those who do not go to school are
lxxvi penalized. Parents would not want to be penalized. The TA has been an excellent example in ensuring compliance.
From 2006, a task force was set up by MoE to intensify the readmission policy. The task force is supposed to ensure that people understand the policy. With the assistance of GESP, the policy has been popularized.
Between January and June 300, over 326 pupils came back as a result of the policy. The girls were 285, 41 boys, over a four period – February to June 2007. This is quite an achievement. So many want to come back but because it is towards end term, most will come back in 2008.
The success of this policy has an inherent danger of swaying policy makers and implementers from focusing on prevention, which should be the priority action. In fact, success of the policy may actually increase the incidences of pregnancy among school girls, since they are assured of continuing with studies. Policy makers did not seem to appreciate this possibility.
Girls’ Hostels: The coming in of new government has come up with a new policy of constructing girls’ hostels in community day secondary schools. Not yet implemented but there are plans to implement the same. The only problem is the delay in passing the education budget. This is reversing the policy of zero hostels for girls and three or so for boys. Government has a plan to construct additional hostels for girls at the secondary level. This policy is being implemented at the tertiary as well. Up to 71, district secondary schools, up to 1997, were mostly single sex. Mixed sex has been introduced in district secondary schools. Hostels were mostly for boys. A conducive environment for girls has been created through the construction of secondary hostels.
One to One Policy Previously, selection to form one was based on merit. Policy emphasizes that for every one boy, there must be one girl. As long as they meet minimum requirements, they stand a chance to join form one. Girls would want to know if they have a chance of proceeding beyond primary. As a result, there are more girls joining the community day secondary schools. Problem is that after a short while, girls would drop out at a rate higher than boys. Even selection to the best school, Kamuzu academy is based on two places for each district. Selection is done on the basis of one boy, one girl.
In the government day secondary schools, there is a 50-50 selection practiced. Some were build in remote places but it means that the pupils have to travel long distances. Those who suffer most were girls. Students are selected on a minimum of 10kms radius of the primary school where they were. Some students opt for self boarding. A number of girls have fallen prey and some got pregnant. Those that could not manage self boarding simply withdrew. In these schools, the enrolment of girls dwindled. In one of the day secondary schools, the girls were being given a ride, - one school where 106 girls got pregnant in the last academic year. This is an example of the pitfalls of day schooling.
lxxvii Bursary program Bursary – communities especially the rural is poor. Secondary education is not free. The government has a bursary scheme – though it has no ratio. It is given out as per need. There is no policy to apportion specific portion for girls. Because there are more boys overall, most recipients are boys. The bursary covers full tuition, boarding, GPT, Textbook revolving fund, examination, and development fund fees.
Information about the bursary does not go to the bursary school pupils. Not much is known about it and will therefore drop out. There are other stakeholders like Ministry of Women and Child Development also have bursary schemes. In 2007, NAC has given MK 200M+. there are also FAWEMA that offers bursary, PRESS TRUST also gives two bursaries per district to the best boy and the best girl; Lions Club.
Education SWAp SWAp is not yet in place in Malawi. UNICEF has played an important part in the preparation for a SWAp in education. It has been an important member of the development partners that have supported the finalization of the NESP that is paving the way for implementation of a SWAp in education. It also signed the Education Sector Code of Conduct and has been gradually shifting from the traditional project mode to sector programming. A number of partners have indicated support for the country programxv.
Complementarity: UNGEI and Malawi Education Program Some of the activities implemented or supported under the auspices of UNGEI have realized unique interventions. These include conducting an evaluation study on SWAps in education, developing a SWAp Pack and mounting capacity building program, conducting gender audits on national education policies
Gender in the Curriculum The curriculum has been analyzed from a gender perspective and all the gender stereotyping have been revised – from 1997 up to 1999. A Gender Curriculum Unit was established at the MIE to ensure that all learning materials are gender neutral. Teachers have also been sensitized on gender equality.
Gender is taken as a cross cutting issue. All learning areas in primary have gender related topics. The content is treated, methodologies and assessment to make sure that boys and girls are treated equally. The directorate of Educational Methods and Advisory Services makes sure that all learning materials give a fair treatment to the boys and girls equally. It also ensures that materials are girls’ friendly and that the content that gives the girl child confidence such as mathematics, science. There is evidence that girls tend to some subjects such as mathematics and sciences, especially in the co-educational schools. generally, they register poor performance in these subjects, and even poorer in the mixed or co-educational schools. Visits to schools confirm that girls do better when they are alone.
lxxviii To ensure that policies governing the girl child education in the system are also complied with, such as the re-entry policy; all instructional materials in the school treat girls and boys equally. All books have illustrations that are gender neutral.
Differential performance is attributed to the socialization – it is difficult for girls to do well in examinations because of specific practices. Unless affirmative action is taken, it is not easy to change the trend.
Non educational work having an impact on education Positive: DPs have joined together and looking at girls’ education in a more holistic manner. Some programs having a positive impact may not necessarily be educational, e.g. the social protection programs. DFID’s work with the police, child welfare, disciplinary measures against teachers, etc, have made their school children, particularly girls, are more aware of their rights as children. Girls are therefore able to report cases of rights violations. Negative: Malawi has no birth registration system. Parents sometimes lie when they want to enroll their children in so long as they get placed. Sometimes, even underage children are included. This affects accuracy of school level data. It makes the calculation of net enrolment rates particularly difficult
Education Budget and Gender sensitive budgeting The national budget is not engendered. There has been no effort to carry out a gendered analysis of the current or even previous education budgets. Nevertheless, MoE report that there are specific components targeting girls that are directly funded by the budget, like girls boarding facilities. Discussions with MoE pointed out that the NESP has gender specific components with clear budget lines. In August, a workshop to sensitize the government officers on gender based budgeting was conducted. However, a number of important personnel, including those in charge of budget at the ministry of education, were not invited.
Main Challenges in Gender Mainstreaming There is still a long way to go to change the attitudes and culture of the people. Overcoming the traditional resistance to mainstreaming takes time, mainly because of entrenched beliefs and traditions. People have grown up with the understanding that women do some things and men do others. Changing the mindset is not easy. This problem is recognized in the CPAP 2008 – 2011.
Magnitude of the sector: The education sector has many players – pupils, teachers, parents, NGOs. Effectively targeting and winning over all these players to support gender mainstreaming is not an easy task. As it is currently, there is a lot that needs to be done on sensitizing all parents in rural and urban areas on gender issues in education. even when they are reached, changing the parents especially in the rural areas is a big problem. Recent studies indicate that even though the ratio of girls to boys is fairly okay at the primary level but there is a serious problem at the upper level.
The right policies seem to be in place to encourage enrolment of girls, the problem is enforcement and design. The readmission policy cannot be fully successful until
lxxix grassroots structures are sensitized and fully brought on board. This is happening in only a few parts of the country through FAWEMA, the mother groups and traditional authorities.
Some schools do not have sanitation facilities which is a major hindrance to the participation of girls, especially for the older girls. If they miss one week every month, their academic performance will go down while some may opt to stay out of school altogether. Stakeholders are assisting where toilets are not available. Local communities are also asked to assist where there are no donors. Water services such as boreholes are also being put up.
How the challenges are being addressed: A gender equality steering committee in MoE, Gender and HIV Committee at Domasi College of Education – can actually seek for funds independently to implement programs. They are able to drive the gender agenda in the education sector. There is a gender equality working group headed by a desk officer at from DCE. Second, a strong desk officer is currently stationed at the MoE to specifically deal with gender issues. Third, UNICEF proposes a strong communication strategy that intensifies community mobilization especially in breaking through the persistent barriers to girls’ education. it proposes a ‘multi strand’ strategic communication plan to raise awareness on the importance of girl’ education stimulate demand for girls’ education. The strategy aims to: reach out of school girls, intensify partnerships with communities, local support groups, and teacher - parents association, and, intensify advocacy efforts for achieving improved access and quality education.
UNICEF Anchoring The 2008-2011 GOM – UNICEF country program action plan (CPAP) has clear focus on improving quality primary education with specific focus on girls’ education, policy sector reform and adolescent participation and HIV/AIDS program. Past engagement with the government has been productive, and the existing good working relationship with the MoE as well as other partners should provide an avenue for UNICEF to continue engaging in the education sector positively. The weakness of the current intervention as already pointed out is the low retention in schools. The focus on school, sanitation, hygiene education and life skills development (Project 2 of proposed program – even though not implemented by the education section) should provide an opportunity to address the issues that contribute to low survival and completion rates for girls.
An important aspect of UNICEF’s programming in education is the implementation of the CFS model in primary schools. The CFS model endeavors to make schools friendlier and accommodating to learners. The main innovation in this regard is the “Joyful Learning” approach. The objective of joyful learning is to increase access, quality and equity in primary education. Key features include: rehabilitation of schools and provision of teaching/learning materials; school furniture, safe water and separate sanitary facilities for boys and girls. The project has so far covered about 21% (1,020) schools in Malawi. Teachers have been in-serviced on child centered, gender sensitive methodologies and the teaching of life skills for HIV prevention. Community mobilization has also been undertaken, addressing barriers for girls’ education and
lxxx enhancing participation by community members in school management. Additionally, school feeding program has been implemented in collaboration with the World Food Program (WFP) in selected districts and schools.
Four projects being implemented Project 1: Quality of Primary Education and HIV/AIDS Prevention – addresses the three pillars: equitable access, relevance and quality, governance and management. These easily find an implementation framework in the CFS model. Project 2: Participation and Retention of Girls and Disadvantaged Children in Primary Education Project 3: Adolescent Development and Participation and Rights of the Girl Child (in CPAP Adolescent Development Participation and HIV/AIDS) – addresses: NYP, UNDAF, MGDS, & MDGs. Also contributes to containing the spread of HIV/AIDS, ensure continuation of young people’s participation and protection in emergency situations. Edzi Toto clubs designed to help teenagers avoid HIV/AIDS infection. Project 4: Support to Sector Reform - collaboration with other DPs to move the education SWAp. Entails developing capacity to lead reform process, institutionalize changes as part of developing a robust and enduring processes to education development. Project 5: Emergency Education There is also the joyful school
Review of Research work on education of girls in Malawi The implementation of FPE in Malawi from 1994 resulted in better participation by both boys and girls, though, initially, girls trailed boys. There is also evidence that achievement – used as a proxy of quality – declined due to unfavorable pupil teacher ratios, unmatched increase in expenditure despite increasing enrolment, and overstretched facilities (Kadzamira, 2006). The gains of FPE notwithstanding, other studies e.g. Chimombo, et.al. (2000) revealed that other non financial barriers still affected girls’ education. Chimombo, et.al (2000) characterized factors affecting girls’ education into: school, home, classroom and socio-economic factors. Home based factors were identified as socialization, late entry to grade one; early marriage, inclination to boys’ than girls’ education among parents, discrimination; domestic household work. As mothers attend to the income needs of the family, ‘it is the girls who are more prone to working in the homes, and this greatly affects their performance in school”. On the other hand, school related factors included: distance; poor school buildings not taking into account bad weather conditions; lack of facilities and school equipment, poor housing conditions for teachers, fewer classrooms, lack of water and sanitation facilities, etc. Among the classroom specific factors were lack of pupil participation in learning, segregated sitting arrangements, limited pupil-teacher interaction, and, lack of sensitivity in targeting girls during learning. The impact of HIV/AIDS is also a major contributor to non-schooling. Orphans and vulnerable children without parental care and support are often vulnerable to greater risk of malnutrition and other forms of abuse, including denial of rights to
lxxxi education. Even though this was not a prominent problem in Malawi a decade ago (Kadzamira, et.al., 2001), it has evolved into a major impediment to schooling
Southern and CERT (2004) note the following problems in Malawi’s education system: lack of trained teachers nationally, and specifically, female in rural areas; unfavorable PTRs as high as 114 and 133, high teacher attrition rates, widespread shortage of teachers and learning materials, shortage of classroom space and lack of furniture for pupils and teachers, lack of latrines and safe water sources, theoretical curriculum, among others.
Conclusions The progress in mainstreaming gender in education in Malawi is almost at tandem with the challenges that are yet to be surmounted. The education sector is doing well in addressing gender concerns in the sector, but it is operating in a broader macro environment that is not moving as fast in embracing gender mainstreaming. The MGDS that provides the overall national development goals is not adequately gendered to the extent that a separate document is being produced with the assistance of UNFPA and CIDA to make the blueprint gender sensitive.
The sector also faces challenges of effective coordination. There are three ministries in charge of education and training: MOEVT, (mainstream formal education) MOWCD (ECD), MOYS&C (NFE and other forms of education for out of school youth). The move to SWAp, when fully implemented, will have to counter the prospects of disjointed implementation, unless there is put in place a system of effective coordination at the ministerial and program level. But even within the MoE itself, the coordination is still wanting. There are cases where meetings and workshops are organized but not all the relevant staff gets invited.
The policy in place encompasses all levels of education. Nevertheless, the interventions and programs in place are overly concentrated on primary level, with little attention to secondary schooling. Much of the world is moving towards integrating secondary education in the basic schooling cycle. It is important that policies that encourage transition to secondary school be given priority. The policies must have a clear gender focus. Evidence shows that the number of girls in the school system continues to thin as they move higher the education ladder.
Even the NESP itself does not mention anything on transition to secondary schooling, yet, it aptly recognizes secondary schooling as “the only turnkey in the quest for qualified human personnel who can make a difference at the basic education level” (Malawi, 2007:18). Unless girls are able to proceed to secondary schooling and be role models for those in the primary level, there are fears that the high number of those not able to proceed to secondary may disillusion those in primary. This would in turn dissuade girls from enrolling and completing primary education.
Despite its formulation of policies and strategies for each sector, the NESP is weak on gender specific strategies to increase the participation of girls at all levels. Often, it
lxxxii contains some broad statements that are not quite clear on the specific interventions to improve girls’ education.
The absence of clearly formulated policies on gender is a contradiction of sorts because there are some very practical measures in place and which are certainly making a difference in the education of girls. For instance, the novel concept of girls’ hostels in day schools that is being proposed in government cycles is largely absent from the strategies enunciated in NESP.
Yet, there is another problem. Policies and measures that are absent in the NESP may not get funding in a SWAp process. The NESP is clear that it will form the basis of funding the entire education sector. SWAp processes normally have a characteristic feature in that participating stakeholders enter into a partnership principles/code of conduct and a joint financing agreement that spells components to be funded in specific stages upon meeting specified conditions. It is difficult to understand how financing some of the measures and strategies not spelt out in the NESP will be done. There is a strong reason to revise the NESP and ensure it is comprehensive enough.
The design of NESP apparently looks at education levels as completely independent of one another. It does not seem to recognize the pipeline nature of schooling. There is no clear linkage between the different levels. Education is one whole system with components and units that function to achieve a common goal or objective.
A major weakness of the current national policy on orphans and vulnerable children is the absence of gender related data. In fact, the whole policy is not gender resistive. We do not know the gender dimensions of the (scale) of the OVC problem. Even the NPA outcome and impact indicators are not in any way disaggregated by gender. There is need to have a fresh look at the policy and engender the OVC program. This is doable. An earlier study of a sample of 312 orphans and non orphans (Kadzamira, et.al., 2001) was able to establish gender dimensions of orphans by level of schooling (primary, secondary and out of school). The NPA should be able to provide better insights into the OVC problem.
Lack of coordination is evident in the multiplicity of data sources. Whereas the UNICEF CPAP reports a teacher to pupil ratio of 1:117, Kadzamira (2006?) reports 1:117 while the EMIS Officer at MoE gives a figure of 1:76. Disharmony in education indicators makes tracking of progress difficult. It is therefore obvious that this is one of the areas that will need to be attended to urgently.
D: Uganda
II). Introduction Uganda has made major strides in the education sector. Primary education is free (and soon to be compulsory). The expected enactment of the Education Bill, 2007 that is currently before Parliament will be a major breakthrough in as it is expected to provide a
lxxxiii legal basis for enforcing compulsory schooling. At the secondary level, a phased implementation of universal secondary education begun in January 2007. Evident political will has adequately supplemented the efforts of implementing agencies in the sector (ministry, development partners) resulting into a fairly vibrant implementation of education programs.
III). Overall Comments Gender remains an important area of focus. All policy documents and major stakeholder meetings give prominence to discussions of gender issues in education. However, there seems to be an implicit assumption that the current challenge centres on sustaining the gender parity in primary education at the PPET and tertiary education levels. Data does not show that there is equity in all aspects in these levels, though. Even at the primary level, equally important issues like improving girls’ and boys’ completion, reducing drop out, repetition and bridging the gap in achievement remains key challenges that do not come out very strongly in the policy reviews.
A National Gender Policy developed in 1997 has since been revised in 2007. The policy provides an important framework for redressing gender imbalances, is a guide to other development practitioners, and provides the framework for the development of sector specific gender policies. The draft education sector gender policy, while capturing the main gender issues in the sector, is not adequately aligned with the national gender policy. Being a draft nevertheless provides opportunities for further revision to provide a strong framework for the implementation of a gender sensitive and responsive education system.
III. Participation in Education a). Pre-Primary Enrolment at this level is very low. Total GER for pre-school education is just 6.17%, with female and male GERs being 6.10% 6.23% respectively. The NERs are equally low at 1.63% for both females and males. The figures show that more than 93% of all P1 entrants do not have any form of pre-school experience. The figures are even lower for pre-schools affiliated to government primary schools. In these schools, total GER is only 0.42% (girls = 0.41) while NERs are a paltry 0.27% for all groups. Pre-school education is not widespread. There are only 386 pre-school institutions in Uganda, with about 44% being privately provided by individual entrepreneurs. The centres charge fees that most parents cannot afford.
Uganda has 3,248 pre-school institutions, of which: 2,335 (72%) nursery institutions, 768 (24%) community based centres, 73 (2%) home based centres and 72 (2%) day care centres. With 76 teacher training institutions, there is one training institution for roughly 43 teacher trainees. The implication is that the intake rate into TTCs is low, and training institutions have huge idle capacity. The low intake may be due to both lack of interest in pre-school teacher training programs, fewer ECD centres (hence, low demand for ECD teachers). But the concentration of pre-school centres in Uganda is very uneven, with two regions (central and western) having more than three quarters of institutions.
lxxxiv At only 69,000 children in nursery institutions (which alone account for 72% of institutions), the low GER is most likely to be true. On the other hand, teacher data from a regional survey indicate that female ECD teachers constitute 41% of ECD teachers. Girls comprise 63.4% of children enrolled in this level in the region. b). Primary Uganda has been implementing universal free primary education since 1997. From just about 2.5 million children in school then, enrolment has risen to over 7.3 million by 2006. Differences between boys and girls still persist (Table 28).
Table 28: Selected Primary Education Indicators Indicator Female Male Total Fact! GER 106.76 108.77 107.77 More than 25,000 children have been NER 92.41 93.62 93.01 abducted by the LRA since 1996, GIR 149.74 155.95 152.84 forcibly recruited as combatants and sex slaves NIR 66.46 67.17 66.82 An estimated 7,000-12,000 Ugandan Repetition children are involved in commercial Survival to P5 48.3 47.5 47.9 sex, 90% of them girls and 47% Drop out xvi orphans Completion 42 55 48 Source: Uganda/UNICEF (2006) Transition Source: Uganda (2006c, 2005) and UNICEF (2005)
There are no significant differences between girls and boys in enrolment. Survival to P5 is also not significantly different, with the marginal gains favouring girls. Boys however have significantly higher completion rates than girls of about 13 percentage points. Indications are that most girls drop out in P6, at an average of about 35%. Schools screen students at this grade and the weak students are forced to repeat to ensure that the district ranking in the Primary leaving Examinations (PLE) for the particular districts remain high. Unfortunately, most of the victims seem to be girls. Screening is therefore a major contributor to drop out, especially of girls. c). Secondary The government introduced universal secondary education with four objectives: increase equitable access to secondary education, achieve MDG on gender parity by 2015, enhance sustainability of UPE, and, reduce the high cost of secondary education. Enrolment in this level shows some stark differences between girls and boys (Table 29)
Table 29: SEC school GER and NER, 2005 Indicator Female Male Total GER 16.64 20.46 18.55 NER 14.55 16.33 15.43 GIR 21.9 25.7 23.8 NIR 4.91 4.25 4.58 Source: Uganda (2006c, 2005) and UNICEF (2005)
Unlike primary, there are more boys enrolled in secondary education. The difference in GER is four percentage points higher for boys than girls. The notably higher enrolment
lxxxv of boys (despite a marginally higher NIR for girls), attests to immediate drop out for girls once enrolled. d). Business, technical vocational education and training (BTVET) Though BTVET is not an area of focus in UNICEF programs, statistics demonstrates the extent of gender disparity in post primary education, and points to the absence of opportunities for girls beyond primary and secondary schooling. Girls constitute only 27.4% of 25,514 students in sector by 2006, a reduction from the 30% of 2004 enrolments.
IV. Access to educational materials/resources and facilities Teaching and learning materials remain a priority area for the government. In 2006/07 alone, the instructional materials unit (IMU) procured and distributed 99,000 copies of the thematic curriculum for schoolsxvii. Another 10% of the annual UPE capitation grant was spent on supplementary reading materials.
Uganda has made tremendous effort in improving pupils’ access to textbooks. The overall pupil textbook ratio stands at 1:1.8. The lower grades (P1-P4) have achieved a ratio of almost one to one (1.0.9) while the upper classes (p5-p7) have a ratio of 1:0.4). There are however serious differences, with the northern districts having ratios as high as 1:15 (Uganda/UNICEF, 200).
Though evidence shows that up to 80% of schools have gender segregated sanitary facilities, the demand for toilet facilities is still very high following UPE and almost all schools do not meet the minimum school standards on sanitation and hygiene (Uganda, 2005). Regions that have a relatively better provision of sanitation facilities are Kampala, Central and Western Uganda. Other regions, Northern and Eastern, are worse off. Absence of proper sanitation and hygiene facilities is more detrimental to girls’ than boys’ schooling. It makes the school environment less friendly, and enhances chances of absenteeism and drop out.
V. Teachers Uganda had a teaching establishment of 144,919 teachers by 2005. Roughly 41% of teachers are female. For primary teachers (both male and female), the modal educational qualification is ‘O’ Level and Certificate/Diploma. In contrast, female teachers constitute only 21.1% of the total number of teachers at the secondary level. Of this figure, only one quarter (25.4%) are graduates. Fewer female teachers at this level deprives girls of role models and confidants in whom they can share issues affecting their schooling which they would not do with male teachers. Fewer female teachers also mean that there are low chances of having female headteachers.
It was not possible to determine the distribution of teachers by location, though there is certainly a problem with distribution that has led the government to introduce allowances for teachers in the hard to reach areas. Female teachers are reported to be averse to teaching in the rural and insecure areas, yet, these are the areas where girls’ participation is lowest.
lxxxvi VI. Performance in examinations Gender gap in performance is glaring. An analysis of performance in the national Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) reveals a consistent pattern of better performance by boys than girls (Uganda/UNICEF, 2005). In the 2004 examinations, only 39% of girls managed to score Division I compared to 69% of boys, while 59% of boys attained Division II compared to 41% of girls.
The trend continues with pre-service teacher education. More female teacher trainees fail to proceed to second year of study after failing the examinations. However, female teacher trainees perform better in in-service primary teacher training examinations. Analysis of results over a four year period (2001/02 – 2004/05) show that male students only performed better than females in 2001/02 but female students have performed consistently better since then. In 2004/05, the failure rate was 10.8% compared with 8.2% of females. Nevertheless, the education sector performance report which details these statistics does not analyze the gender differences. What is clear is that the higher failure rate of female teacher trainees is compounded by the low enrolment in these institutions. The result is a low overall proportion of female teachers in the education system.
VII. The Education for All – Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI) Window Uganda has not benefited from an EFA-FTI grant so far. It is currently preparing to submit a request.
VIII. The Policy Front The Uganda Gender Policy provides the framework for redressing gender imbalances, is a guide to other development practitioners, and provides the framework for the development of sector specific gender policies. The policy sets priority areas of action at the national, sectoral, district and community levels. Its ultimate objective is to “evolve a society that is both informed and conscious of gender and development issues and concerns” (Uganda, 2007a:v). A major weakness of the current gender policy is its failure to come out strongly on the mobilization of, access to, and distributive impact of resources in development. This is despite the acknowledgement that unequal access to and control of resources is one of the main causes of gender inequality in Uganda (Uganda, 2006).
The MoES’s “Basic Education Policy for Educationally Disadvantaged Children” considers educationally disadvantaged children as those children “who are experiencing barriers to learning, and are directly or indirectly excluded from or denied the chance to optimally participate in the learning activities which take place in a formal or non-formal setting.” Girls are identified as one of the educationally disadvantaged groups.
A handbook for teachers on gender responsive teaching environment has been developed with the facilitation of UNICEF. Though a very noble and timely idea, it has left out other important target groups, not least the quality assurance officers and other education supervisors who superintend curriculum implementation. UNICEF is supporting ESA in engendering the tools used for school inspection and monitoring (by SMCs etc.).
lxxxvii The development of Basic Requirements and Minimum Standards Indicators for Educational Institutions was a right move, but the document is too general and does not include basic consideration of the differences between girls and boys, and fails to specify what should be, for instance, types of toilets, distance from classrooms, boys’ toilets, etc.
IX. Education SWAp The current Education Sector Strategic Plan (2004-2015) and its predecessor (1998-2003) provide the framework for sector wide approach in education in Uganda. Platforms for joint planning, implementation and reviews are the Education Sector Consultative Committee (ESCC) and the Education Funding Agencies Group (EFAG). Each year, there are annual planning and budgeting and joint review exercises.
Even though a SWAp is in place, there are concerns that a number of partners still engage in the project mode, and sometimes, there are multiple studies and projects being implemented by partners independently. Though there has been progress, e.g. agreeing on targets, indicators, joint monitoring and evaluation together, etc, capacity is still a problem. Still, only four of the agencies active in the education sector are have specific programs in gender (AFDB, WB, UNICEF, UNHCR). Additionally, the SWAp process does not seem to have ensured effective targeting of resources.
X. Projects/programs to encourage education of girls These are many but the following can be identified. a) Ensuring that structures are friendly for girls, school hygiene and equipping teachers with skills to enable girls to learn. b) The Presidential Initiative on AIDS Strategy for Communication to Youth (PIASCY). This program encourages positive behaviour at school, stresses coping mechanisms and trains teachers on how to handle girls and other children. It also emphasises deliberate interventions on sexual maturation and reproductive health education. c) Deliberate intervention to help girls access sciences - labs targeted in needy girls schools. In the girls’ schools, to ensure that they are well resources. The African Development Bank (AfDB) grants are used to build labs in girls’ only schools and predominantly girls’ mixed schools. d) Role model female head teachers and role model teachers in sciences are used to encourage girls to come on board. e) Deliberate affirmative action. Girls are given an additional 1.5 points to encourage higher enrolment in the national universities. As a result, enrolment has gone to over 40%. The 1.5% gives girls confidence and has implications at the lower levels. Additionally, at selection to the institutions, some affirmative action being applied. With joint admissions board (JAB), the normal practice is to sponsor those with 2 principal passes. However, girls are admitted with one principal pass for the diploma institutions. f) Many institutions where courses were male dominated have tried to introduce courses that attract girls, e.g. ICT. g) Sciences have been optional but are now compulsory. Teachers have been trained on how to motivate girls to take sciences, e.g. teaching sciences in gender sensitive
lxxxviii environment. Low girls’ enrolment was due to the insensitive pedagogy. With the technical assistance from Japan, there is an increasing focus on in-service training for teachers to get skills to handle girls’ dominated classes. h) MoES has recommended that for the mixed primary and secondary schools, where the head teacher is male there should be a female deputy head teacher and vice versa. i) These work as role models. There has been a deliberate effort to promote female headship in schools. j) In the dailies, there are female achievers who write about their experience. At the end of the year, printed in one booklet and sold to schools. This is meant to motivate girls and teachers to be role models k) Re-entry for drop outs due to early pregnancy is encouraged. There is a circular from MoES to schools to enforce the policy. l) Government bursary for PLE best performing pupils per sub-county: one girl, one boy. However, these bursaries end up being taken mostly by boys because they perform better than girls. m) In BTVET, Uganda has embraced competency based education and learning approach, including modularizing curriculum in the institutions to encourage girls who drop out to come backxviii. At the policy level, the ministry has developed the Uganda Vocational Qualifications Framework – which should harmonize assessment, certification and accreditation across the board. This will enable girls to cross over e.g. to the university. An outcome of all these interventions, there are notable changes in the enrolment of girls in these institutions. There is a change in the curriculum menu, i.e. what is being offered in these institutions.
Complementarity: UNGEI and Uganda Education Program With the support of UNICEF, under the UNGEI framework and in collaboration with FAWE-U, Uganda has implemented the following activities: conducting gender audits on national education policies, using GEM to empower girls, documenting best practices in girls’ education. Evidence seems to suggest that in some countries like Uganda, the GEM is proving an effective mobilization tool for girls’ education.
XI. Education Budget and Gender sensitive budgeting Uganda commits a high proportion of the education budget to basic education. In FY 2005/06, primary and secondary were apportioned 67.1% and 16.1% of the total budget respectively. This cumulatively accounts for 83.2% of total education budget.
In terms of specific amounts of funds being earmarked for gender specific programming, the 2007/08 budget has a budget line for ‘gender mainstreaming’ of Ush. 50 million (US$ 28,735.6). It is not clear what this money is for. MoES opine that it may be used to fund the gender focal point at MoE. Currently, ESIP is in the process of being recosted mainly due to the introduction of UPPET and thematic curriculum for primary schools. The recosting should result into meaningful adjustment of the budget from a gender perspective.
lxxxix Not much has been done on gender based budgeting. It is not a key element of the planning and budgeting processes. There is however a girls’ education budgeting project by USAID and the Dutch, but these are very limited in scope.
There are clear statements on the promotion of sanitation and hygiene in schools especially targeting girls, but this is not matched with appropriate expenditure details in the Ministerial Policy Statement.
The MoFPED organized workshops for all sectors to translate the gender based budgeting to the sectors. This is being done at the national level but the MoES is yet to embrace it. There has therefore not been any deliberate analysis of gender budget so far, despite the establishment of gender desks in all departments.
XII. UNICEF Anchoring UNICEF is implementing the “TRACE” (the right of all children to education) program through rights based approach. The TRACE program aims to promote access and retention in school and to improve the quality of primary education and consequently of learning achievement. There are two main projects in TRACE. The first, ‘Early Learning and Stimulation’, aims to progressively enable children aged 3-5 to exercise their right to quality early learning, stimulation and preparation for timely enrolment in primary school. The second, ‘Primary Education: Quality and Completion’, aims to enable children aged 6-12, especially girls, to access school at the correct age, to complete quality primary education and to achieve the required proficiency levels.
By the end of the program cycle, the following two key results are expected in the selected (mostly northern) districts: a) The percentage of girls and boys aged 0-5 years who realise their right to early learning and stimulation will increase from 2% to 12%; b) The percentage of girls and boys aged 6-12 realising their right to access education will increase from 53% to 68% (in the conflict-affected districts and in Karamoja), while the percentage of children who complete quality primary education and achieve required proficiency levels for their class will increase from 23% to 40%.
Two other non educational projects nevertheless have a direct impact on education. The Social Policy, Advocacy and Alliances for Children has two components: a). the Evidence-based Social Policy Advocacy for Children contributes to the monitoring process for the Millennium Declaration, the MDGs and the PEAP by supporting the analysis and dissemination of up-to-date data on children and young people; b). the Advocacy and Alliances for Children contributes to the progressive realization of children’s rights and gender equity, especially the right of age-appropriate participation.
UNICEF programs are effectively helping bridge the gender gap especially among the conflict prone areas. At the same time, a number of other partners and NGOs are implementing various programs especially in the Northern Region which is the most disadvantaged, and where gender differences are also the most glaring. The programs in place should facilitate the narrowing of gender differences in basic education.
xc XIII. Review of literature on gender and girls’ education in Uganda Available literature on gender issues and girls’ education in Uganda can be categorized into four. The most prominent are research reports and other briefs from the university, specifically Makerere. Second are MoES reports and policy documents, sometime jointly prepared with development partners. Third are reports by NGOs active in the sector. Fourth are newspaper articles, handbooks, handbills and brochures by different individuals, media houses, NGOs and other institutions. a). Government Reports/Policy Blue Prints: Girls’ education has been a priority area of focus for the government of Uganda for the past two decades. In 2000, MoES produced ‘The National Strategy for the Girls’ Education in Uganda’ (NSGE) (MoES, 2000). The strategy highlighted key barriers to girls’ education in Uganda, strategies for enhancing girls’ education and proposals on the way forward. The implementation of the free primary education program, together with a clear focus on the girl child, has dramatically increased the enrolment of girls in Uganda (Uganda, 2006a). However, the Some participation inhibitors challenge of increasing completion, reducing More girls are inhibited by drop out and repetition as well as enhancing accessibility challenges – 50% completion and transition remain. Drop out compared to 21% boys - rates in the higher primary grades (between P6 Uganda/UNICEF, 2006 and P7) being as high as 35% for girls and 26% Late age of entry, especially for girls for boys (Uganda/UNICEF, 2005). The result Water and sanitation facilities, a of these trends is the presence of more boys in major factor for girls’ attendance, upper primary grades and secondary than girls are not available in all schools (Uganda, 2006b). In the remote rural areas, Economic differentials have greater long distances between school and insecurity impact on girls’ than boys’ chances invariably affect the education of girls than boys of schooling (Uganda/UNICEF, 2005). A macro level study Learners, especially, girls, miss school on some days to care for the identifies unequal access to and control of sick members of the household resources is one of the main causes of gender (Uganda/UNICE, 2005) inequality in Uganda (Uganda, 2006a). The education sector gender policy (2006c) provides guidelines for gender mainstreaming in the sector. The policy is intended to cover the period of the ESSP, which should not be the case. It instead ought to have provided a framework for mainstreaming gender and monitoring implementation of policies, programs and projects beyond the life of the ESSP. This is a major limitation of the policy. However, though it effectively engenders the objectives of the ESSP, it fails to specify the policies, measures, interventions/strategies and approaches that are essential in successful gender mainstreaming in the sector, in sharp contrast to the national gender policy which has very clear objectives and which should have formed the basis for formulating education sector gender policy. There is no relationship between the national gender policy and the draft Gender and Education Policy. From this title, there is no clarity whether it is an education sector gender policy, or gender and education sector policy. Report on the situation of women and children in Uganda (Uganda/UNICEF, 2006) reveals that one of
xci the reasons for the non-realization of children’s rights to education is the school environment (See Box on summary of inhibitors). b). University Reports/Studies: Publications and reports from the university are notable for their focus on higher education, and mostly on the implementation of affirmative action and gender mainstreaming at Makerere University. The university seems to have made significant progress in mainstreaming gender in higher, specifically university education (Bwire, 2006; Makerere University, 2002). However, there are other reports by university specialist on basic education. For instance, Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR) (2003) conducted a study on growing up and sexual maturation. The study found that information gaps on growing up and sexual maturation have a wide spectrum of negative and varied consequences for boys and girls while getting such information contributes to children’s enjoyment of school, good academic performance and confidence building, especially among girls. c). Studies by NGOs/Reports: On basic education, a study at the dawn of the Dakar meeting by FAWE Uganda (2000) documented the high enrolment rates for boys at the expense of girls, even though the drop out rate for boys was higher. It proposed the enactment of a policy on re-entering into the formal school system by school dropouts due to pregnancy. There has been no policy per se but girls who get pregnant are encouraged to re-enter. One year later, FHRI (2001) observed that while corporal punishment elicited some public attention, pregnant schoolgirls still had to leave school and were unable to register at the same school after delivery. FAWE (U) and ActionAid Uganda (2002) document some good practices in gender mainstreaming in Uganda which they recommend other CSOs may replicate in promoting girls’ education in Uganda.
A study by Uganda by ActionAid Uganda (2004) observed that all forms of gender-based violence impact on the concentration, retention, performance and achievement of both girls and boys in school. Another study (Naker, 2005) found rampant violence in schools, with 98 percent of boys and girls reporting experiencing physical or emotional violence. Another 75.8 per cent, majority being girls, reported experiencing sexual violence and 74.4 per cent reported experiencing economic violence. These findings more or less corroborate the previous findings by FIDA Uganda (2004) that discrimination against girl children is rampant especially in rural areas.
An analysis on the implementation of gender sensitive education policy and practices noted the positive impact of reforms to increase the right of access to education by girls and boys, though it noted some differential policy impacts, such as the inability to achieve parity in the proportion of female and male teachers at the pre-school level. A review of education in the Karamoja, one of the most disadvantaged regions (Kariuki, 2006), revealed that enrolments decline as children progressed to higher classes, with girls being affected most, to the extent that in some schools, there are no girls in P6 and P7.
xcii d). Girls’ Education in the Press: Although it was not possible to access much literature on what the Ugandan press has been reporting on the education of the girl child, a few obtained from UNICEF office indicate that this has been given attention for a long time. Ocowun (2006) noted the heavy involvement by NGOs in funding education in Uganda, and singled out the partnership between MoES and Save the Children UK in launching the “Rewrite the future” project in Pader District. This is an important project in increasing the participation of excluded children. Okello (2006) WOMEN BEST TEACHERS also reported on UNICEF’s campaigns to sensitize the BY Karimojong about the importance ANNE MUGISA & MOSES MULONDO of educating girls. The article expresses voices of girl children “ PUPILS taught by female teachers perform better than those taught by male teachers, according to a and their vulnerability to their report released by UNEB on Friday. The report native Karimojong culture of early based 0.11a national survey says schools headed by marriages that denies them the female teachers performed better than those headed right to complete education. An by their male counterparts………. Though they article by Ongoza (1999) focused performed better, female teachers are only a on the exclusion of disadvantaged minority, according to the survey. Of the 405 children in Uganda, and gives a schools randomly selected in different districts in graphic description of the plight of Uganda, only 15% were female headed while the one deaf girl child in Uganda. overall number of female teachers was very low. While this was just one case, it The researchers recommend to the policy makers to nevertheless epitomizes the misery appoint more female teachers to head primary schools and recruit more female teachers as well”. that especially disadvantaged Saturday Vision, August 25, 2007 children generally go through, including denial of the right to schooling.
XIV. Conclusion Despite the tremendous progress, a number of challenges remain. Enrolment of girls especially in the conflict areas has to be given attention. In discussions with project staff on the current situation of girls’ education in Uganda, it was reported that in one school in Kitgum, out of a class of form one, 19, only one was a girl. In another school, there were 5 girls out of a class of 22. In yet another school, the team asked where girls were, and the response was that they (the girls) had dropped out.
As much as effort have been made to ensure that there are no gender biases in the curriculum, the BTVET curriculum still retains remnants of gender stereotyping and will need to be examined to make them gender neutral.
Even though the national gender policy emphasizes the institutionalizing gender and budget initiatives in central and local government budget cycles, there is a notable gap between policy intents and implementation. There is no evidence that the budget has been subjected to gender analysis, while there are no plans so far to institute gender sensitive budgeting within the MoES.
xciii Compared to 2000, Uganda has made tremendous effort in mainstreaming gender in its education program. It is certainly ahead of a number of countries in the ESAR in terms of capacity to mainstream, commitment of the UNICEF office to support gender mainstreaming and education of the girl child, realistic policies and pragmatic interventions to reduce gender inequity and political commitment to gender equity in education and other spheres. Much remains to be done however in improving the education SWAp and ensuring effective coordination of interventions, pooling of resources and ensuring targeting of resources for maximum impact. Uganda therefore needs to consider a number of proposals to realize these goals.
Recommendations
I: Overall Recommendations a).Improving the education of girls: Three areas of focus The scenario scripted in the preceding section point to progress in improving the education of girls and boys, but at the same time demonstrates the magnitude of challenge that ESAR faces in equalizing access and participation as well as steadying the focus on quality improvement. Three measures seem to be standing out as needing specific and intense focus: a). strengthening education SWAps by entrenching the gender agenda; b). special attention to the excluded groups; and, c). improving the EMIS (including personnel training and retraining). b). Strengthening Education SWAps and Entrenchment of Gender Mainstreaming The shift to sector wide approaches in education holds much promise in harmonizing support to education sector in the region, as indeed in other parts of the world. SWAps provide an excellent opportunity for input in policy making and program implementation that addresses themes and issues in the entire education sector in a coordinated manner. Where local knowledge and expertise on gender aspects of educational planning and implementation is weak, countries are likely to benefit from the input of other partners. Donors and other stakeholders have an opportunity to provide budgetary support to gender programs which may not have been adequately funded. Fundamentally, weaknesses in policy front are also likely to be strengthened with the input of other stakeholders. The challenge for ESAR is three fold: i). introduce the approach where none has been existing; ii). strengthen SWAps where they are weak; and, iii). Take advantage of the SWAp process to ensure that the entire education program is gendered c). Focus on the excluded Strategies will need to focus on the excluded girls, who constitute the majority of out of school children. Lewis and Lockheed (2006) identify two categories of strategies for addressing exclusion: (i) what governments can and should do on the policy front; and, (ii) what multilateral and bilateral donor agencies/development partners can do. The first category should target: altering education policies and addressing discrimination by changing laws and administrative rules; expanding options for educating out of school
xciv children, especially girls; improving quality and relevance of schools and classrooms by ensuring that excluded girls receive basic educational inputs and providing professional development to help teachers become agents of change; supporting compensatory preschool and in-school programs that engage and retain excluded children, particularly girls; creating incentives for households help overcome both the reluctance to send girls to school and the cost of doing so.
Development agencies or donors could, on the other hand, facilitate increased school attendance by the excluded groups through: Establishing trust funds for multilateral programs targeted at excluded girls that supports experimentation, innovative programs, alternative schooling options and the basic inputs for effective schools Expanding knowledge base about what works to improve the school participation and achievement of excluded girls through a girls’ education evaluation fund. Creating demand by financing compensatory costs associated with reaching excluded children, promoting outreach programs for parents, building partnerships for conditional cash transfers – CCTs; and providing school meals, scholarships for girls, and school stipends to finance school uniforms, school supplies, books for girls.
UNICEF (2007) identify three broad polices that are key in improving the participation of girls. These are: abolishing school fees, encouraging parents and communities to invest in girls’ education, and, safe, girl friendly schools. d). FTI Window and Girls’ Education The challenge of meeting the EFA and MDG goals in education should clearly focus on the excluded, majority of whom are girls. The review shows that a number of countries are yet to apply for FTI support. These countries should put in place robust proposals for accelerating girls’ education when preparing FTI proposals. Those that have gotten the support like Kenya should accelerate programs that support girls’ education. This may entail new innovations or expanding existing programs, like the UNICEF supported girls’ scholarship program in the remote northern part of the country. Since UNGEI is part of the FTI partnership, girls’ education lays a legitimate claim on the catalytic fund. e). Improving EMIS It is virtually impossible to program for gender equity policies and programs without knowing the magnitude of the gender differences in participation and the weight of factors that impact on gender equity. The review has revealed that getting up to date, comprehensive and desegregated data is a problem in the region. Countries need support to strengthen their EMIS departments (or establish one where there is none), train personnel in data management (statistics), dissemination of data including posting online for easy access, etc. Getting national data may be easy in some countries but even in such cases, data on intra-country/regional differences may not be readily available. In particular, countries must make efforts, and be supported to, maintain and up date a comprehensive data base for the entire education sector. Much of the data available from
xcv the mainstream ministries of education is confined to basic education. Data on post basic, technical and higher/university education is scant. Another problem is the unavailability of data on performance in examinations. Many countries have examination councils or boards that keep this data independent of the ministries of education. There should be concerted efforts to make the data available from one complete source. The linkage and coordination between ministries of education and other departments need to be strengthened. A well functioning EMIS system will provide adequate information for planning and implementation of programs for the improvement of education and involvement of other stakeholders.
II: Country Specific Recommendations a). Ethiopia i). Improving the SIP Model: The UNICEF model of SIP is more wholesome and can be an effective instrument to improve the current government model. Space for doing so exists as the guidelines have not yet been developed. ii). A more inclusive definition of quality: The MoE may need to revisit this and adopt a more inclusive definition of quality, such as the UNICEF definition that includes, among others the entry behaviour of grade one entrants. It is not possible to expect children who have not had any pre-schooling experience to learn meaningfully in the first few years of primary education. This partly explains the high proportion of grade one entrants who drop out before grade two. iii). Engendering the Budget: The best approach is to advocate for engendering the current budget, even with the ceilings in place. The guidelines for gender sensitive budgeting that is being developed should be concluded and the process of sensitizing the MOFED and other staff should begin. Only when the budget is fully engendered, supportive with relevant technical capacity and political will, can Ethiopia effectively implement the policy proposals espoused in the ESDP and PASDEP. iv). Facilitating dissemination of gender specific research: The review did not come across findings of research work done in the recent past in Ethiopia. It is unlikely that there has been no research taking place in the universities, research institutes as well as research by NGOs. What is most likely is that the findings of the research already done have not been widely disseminated. It may be necessary for the government, through the Gender and Equity Department, to encourage and directly support the dissemination and sharing of findings gender based research. If possible, a data bank of researches done should also be established by the department. This will facilitate accessing findings of relevant research documents. v). Capacity Development The evident political will in Ethiopia is not matched with technical capacity in gender mainstreaming both at the MoE level and UNICEF office. The challenge here must be
xcvi addressed by the regional office, UNICEF country office and the MoE. The department of gender and equity in the various ministries are well meaning but they are not able to carry out regular gender analyses of policies and interventions. The MoE also need to have a clear program for building the capacity at the headquarters and Woreda levels. b). Kenya i). Equalizing Opportunity of Access in Teacher Education Programs Kenya must do something to equalize opportunity of access to females especially in secondary education teacher training programs. The problem of lack of female teachers is more acute at the secondary school level. The problem is principally due to fewer female candidates achieving the necessary cut off mark to join these colleges. The government should adopt an affirmative action and allow admission of more females even if at lower points. This will result in the production of enough female teachers who could be better role models to girls still in school. ii). Enhance Participation and Performance Science Subjects. The current performance patterns show that girls dominate the languages and other ‘softer’ disciplines in primary, secondary and even university education. Initiatives that aim to improve the teaching of and performance in the sciences such as the strengthening mathematics and science education (SMASSE) project should be strengthened and given a strong gender focus. The current project that supplies science equipment to girl’s schools in order to promote performance in Mathematics and other Science subjects should be intensified. iii). Engendering the budget A deeper analysis of the education budget from a gender perspective, and specifically, the gender component of the SWAp (KESSP) is required. Such analysis should zero in on the levels of funding, the main activities and program components, the program’s capacity to absorb earmarked funds, the variance in finding and its implications on mainstreaming in education. iv). Focus on learning outcomes The current inequalities in achievement between girls and boys can be adequately tackled by intensifying the focus on learning outcomes. Consistent poor performance in science subjects not only limits the probability of having women professionals in these disciplines, but by lowering the overall grade in examinations, inhibits the progression of female students beyond basic education. But focusing on learning outcomes should also be driven by an overall push to improve the quality of education, and enhance realisation of rights. v). Increasing the prominence of girls’ education in the SWAp A successful SWAp is in place. However, it does not seem to have given much prominence to the discussions on gender specific issues in the education system. The gender program does not appear to excite as much debate as other components, say, instructional materials, during the annual reviews. This may explain why discrepancies
xcvii between allocation and actual expenditure, including large deficits in financing, pass unnoticed. vi). Accelerate finalization of the gender and education policy and implement it The finalization of the policy once approved by the cabinet is likely to give added impetus for the implementation of gender program and projects. The ministry should ensure that the draft policy is finalised, disseminated amongst stakeholders and finalised as soon as possible. vii). A review of progress in implementing presidential directive on affirmative action Political commitment to gender equality has recently been taken a notch higher with a presidential directive that all appointments to public institutions should have a minimum of 30% women. UNICEF, working with the government, may consider two issues here. One is to carry out a rapid assessment of how far the directive has been implemented in education sector, or at least the progress in the implementation of the directive. The other is to closely monitor its implementation with a focus to carrying out a major assessment in the near future.
The presidential directive should motivate the ministry and its partners to speed up the implementation of the gender policy in education, as well as implementing affirmative action in the recruitment of teacher trainees as advocated in (XVa) above. viii).Scaling up and supporting initiatives by individual agencies not part of the SWAp A number of partners are having unique projects aimed at improving participation of girls in schools. Some of these agencies are not part of the SWAp and their initiatives may be easily forgotten. One of these includes the sanitary towels initiative by GOAL Kenya. The ministry should provide, if possible, provide matched funding for such initiatives, encourage other partners to take cue and implement the same in other regions not so far covered, and negotiate with the Treasury for waivers of tax on sanitary facilities and other initiatives that have clear objectives of improving the situation of girls. ix). Gender Desegregated Data Kenya has done well in establishing an EMIS that is working very well relative to other countries in the region. It would nevertheless do well by ensuring that all data available is gender desegregated. The current transition rate is given as an overall 61%. It is not possible to determine how girls compare with boys in transiting to secondary education. This would be helpful in tracking progress being made in improving education of girls. c). Malawi i). Education Sector Gender Policy: Malawi is preparing the ground for an education SWAp that will form the basis of supporting education programs in the country. It is important that as the SWAp takes shape, stakeholders, led by the Ministry of Education, should take cue from the National Gender Policy to prepare an education sector gender policy. This should draw from the lessons learnt in the past, current challenges and the
xcviii broader objectives of the national policy. The policy should comprehensively include components of HIV/AIDS and OVCs that directly affect the provision of education. ii). Engendering the National Budget: The national budget should be gendered. The first step should be to carry out a gender based analysis of the current budget. Additionally, the NESP costing should also be subjected to gender based analysis (before finalization) to determine the extent to which the costing is gender sensitive. iii). EFA-FTI Grant and Priority Areas of Action: The education sector faces considerable financial constraints. There are a number of activities proposed for funding to entrench gender equity. Other than tapping funds from development partners, the finalization of the NESP should allow Malawi to apply for EFA-FTI support. Priority areas of funding should target improving the participation of girls. iv).Focus on retention and completion: Strategies in attracting children to school seem to be working especially in the UNICEF supported schools. A two-pronged strategy is needed here. For the regions that have managed to attract children, the strategy must shift to retaining children in school and improving the transition rate. Linking school communities to learn from one another should be encouraged. UNICEF should not aim at covering all the schools in Malawi in its programming, but should endeavor to capacity build the government and communities to replicate the strategies it has employed in its focus schools.
At the same time, special attention needs to be given to completion. Even though girls are more than boys in the lower levels, the situation changes dramatically as they progress the higher levels. For instance, a review of interventions in girls’ education in 2004 revealed that by standard 8, girls constituted only 34% of pupils. These figures reveal an education system that is grossly inefficient in retaining girls in school. v). Institutionalizing the CFS: The three main pillars of NESP: equitable access, relevance and quality, governance and management easily find relevance in the CFS framework and makes for easy institutionalization. UNICEF can provide the necessary technical support to MoE to implement the CFS framework in all schools in the country. In fact, it should be about making the CFS a core component of the education sector planning and implementation. vi). An incentive scheme to better performing girls: To address the problem of high drop out among girls especially in the upper grades, it may be necessary, as a short term measure, to introduce awards that will encourage girls who do well in school. This will motivate other girls to stay on and complete the primary cycle. vii). Strategies on retention of teachers: The imbalance in the distribution of female teachers can be addressed by strengthening the localization of teacher recruitment and introducing a system of bonding. Not only should the condition for recruitment be that one must come from the locality, but once employed, the teacher must undertake to stay in the locality for a minimum period of time, such as five years before seeking a transfer.
xcix Currently, the absence from rural areas denies rural pupils the role models. A system of differentiated salary structures should also be considered, where teachers in rural areas earn better than those in the urban. Third, teachers in the rural areas should also benefit from accelerated promotions after a certain period of service, such as immediately upon completing the five year mandatory period of service. These policies may be pursued alongside those that restrict free movement of teachers especially those that follow their husbands to the urban centres. viii). Regular monitoring of education: The free primary education program has constrained the provision of education in a major way. It is not clear that the MoEVT carries our regular monitoring schools. This should be emphasized. The relevant quality assurance officers should be capacitated technically, logistically and financially to be able to make regular school visits, establish a system of report back and follow up of schools that need supervisory support. ix). Girls’ hostels and security issues: The construction of girls’ hostels in the day schools is a noble idea. Focus should be as much on construction of more hostels, strategic distribution and location, and, more importantly, security and safety issues. x). Readmission policy and focus on prevention: Successful implementation of the readmission policy should go in tandem with instituting preventive measures. In particular, life skills among school going age children need to be emphasized. Skills for negotiating safe sex, abstention (which does not seem to be working) and knowledge of dangers of early pregnancy should be prioritized. xi). Capacity building for gender mainstreaming: The department of planning to take charge of coordinating the capacity building program within the ministry, and ensure that the entire ministry is given training on gender mainstreaming. There are sections that have not been exposed at all to basic gender mainstreaming skills and practice. xii). Focus on impact of non education interventions on schooling: It may be necessary to carry out an investigation on the impact of other non educational work on educational participation of children. Specifically, establish how the social justice and protection programs with the police, the child welfare department, etc have empowered children to be able to demand their rights from the state, parents and the community. d). Uganda i). Revising the draft Gender and Education Policy: Depending on the MoES’s determination of feasibility and its own perceptions on the current ‘gender and education policy’, it may need to be revise the policy to align it with the national gender policy rather than peg its lifespan on the ESSP. This means that the recommendation of the planning and budgeting workshop to finalize the policy and provide funds to implement it should be put on hold until there is reasonable consensus on the adequacy of the policy.
c ii). Revising the Handbook on child friendly pedagogy: The handbook on gender responsive classroom environment is one of the most important documents on gender mainstreaming in Uganda. The handbook should be made part and parcel of instructional materials at the pre-teacher education training institutions for both primary and secondary education. Second, it should have been developed as part and parcel of a comprehensive CFS framework, necessitating the need to develop other handbooks for parents, head teachers, SMC members, etc. The student handbook could focus on rights and expectations of children from teachers, the school, administration and the pupils themselves, among others. Indeed, relevant substance for the different stakeholders is currently in the handbook, so that its current chapters may just need to be revamped appropriately. Alternatively, change the title so that it is not limited to teachers. Chapter Three for instance is relevant to parents and SMC members, while chapter 4 is relevant to other education officers. iii). Revisiting restrictions on the current national budget: Uganda may need to revisit the sector ceilings that do not allow for additional funding (even if partners were willing to infuse additional funding) for gender specific programs. Another obstacle that may need to be reviewed is the requirement for corresponding counterpart funding that the government can ill afford now. This is a contradiction because the Ministerial Policy Statement for FY 2007/08 (Uganda, 2007d) acknowledges insufficiency of resources as one of the major challenges facing the sector. iv). Intensifying focus on retention and survival of pupils, especially girls: Data shows that there is not much difference between girls and boys in the lower primary grades, and even in the NIR at secondary. However, more girls are lost much faster once enrolled than boys. This means that interventions focusing on keeping girls in secondary school, just like those that encourage their survival in primary system, require urgent attention. v). Examinations: A number of measures are required here. First, the government should investigate the reasons behind the consistently poor performance by female pre- service teacher trainees, yet they perform very well in the in-service examinations. Second, the ESAPR should also be sensitive and carry out an analysis of the gender dimensions in examination performance at all levels. Third, Education Statistics Abstracts should include comprehensive analysis of examination results at all levels. The current one is not detailed and inclusive enough. vi). Curriculum length and breadth: In secondary education, students are required to sit for eight compulsory subjects. This puts too much pressure on students who have to read widely and for extended duration. Female students may not have enough reading time unless they are in boarding schools (currently few - 96). They have to attend to domestic chores at home, including preparing meals, cleaning the home, etc for their male siblings as they (the male siblings) study (prepare for examinations). They are therefore not able to compete equally with boys in national examinations that determine entry to tertiary education.
ci vii). Enforcing automatic progression at all levels, especially P6: Interventions on improving girls’ education should target the upper primary segment and specifically the P6 level. The MoE should enforce the policy of automatic progression and to obligate all schools and district education officers to stamp out the practice. If possible, the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) in every district should be involved in sensitization and enforcement. viii). Incentive schemes to attract female teachers to the hard to reach, rural areas: Allowances given to teachers in the hard to reach areas is a reasonable incentive compared to the practice in other countries such as Kenya. Good as it is, there should be greater focus on the security of teachers, particularly females, posted to these areas. There should also be greater attention given to staff housing. Embracing a safe schools policy focusing on both teachers and pupils would effectively complement the other efforts in improving the presence of female teachers in the rural areas. ix). Pooling Partners and support to gender specific programs: The pooling partners may want to consider a review of the education sector support to ascertain the degree to which it has aided gender equity and mainstreaming. Budget support cuts across issues, programs and projects, but it is possible that some programs may receive generous funding at the expense of others. This becomes critical when some budget lines are not clear, like the ‘gender mainstreaming’ item in the 2007/08 budget. Still, it is only Ush. 50 million. x). Enhancing competitiveness of the thematic curriculum: The thematic curriculum handbills produced by MoES and USAID should include messages on the importance of girls’ education. They are currently too general and lack any gender focus. xi). Engendering the USE: Government should consider engendering the implementation of the USE beyond the current statements. An investigation on access to secondary schooling especially in the north may help in designing appropriate policies to differentially fund the boys and girls’ schools in the region, or schools generally compared to other parts of the country. xii). Mainstreaming ECD: ECD should be made an integral part of primary education. Every primary school should be required to have an ECD section that should be funded by the government. Low achievement levels contribute to the high drop out rate in P6 especially among girls. Early stimulation should help bridge the gender differences in achievement which is currently responsible for the high number of girls being filtered out at P6. In this regard, MoE and UNICEF should work jointly in ensuring the success of the component 1 of TRACE.
cii References A: General Literature Review Abagi, O. 1997.Efficiency of Primary Education in Kenya: Situational Analysis and Implications for Educational Reforms. Nairobi: Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (IPAR) Appleton, Simon, 1995. Exam Performance in Kenyan Primary Schools: Determinants and Gender Differences. Washington D.C.: The World Bank. Association for the Advancement of Higher Education and Development (AHEAD). 2007. Educational Pathways in East Africa: Scaling a Difficult Terrain. Kampala: AHEAD Bruns, B; A. Mingat and R. Rakotomalala (2003). Achieving Universal Primary Education by 2015: A Chance for Every Child. Washington, D.C: The World Bank Bwonda, E.N. and E.H.N. Njeru. 2005. Primary Education in Kenya: Access and Policy Implications, 1989 – 2002. IPAR Discussion Paper Series No. 064/2005. Nairobi: IPAR Kane, E. 2004. Girls’ Education in Africa: What Do we Know about strategies that work? Africa Region Human Development Series, the World Bank, Washington, DC. Kelly, M.J. 1991. Education in a Declining Economy: The Case of Zambia, 1975-1985 Washington, DC: The World Bank. Kenya, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoE). Free Primary Education: Every Child in School. 2003. Kenya, Government of; UNDP and Finland, Republic of. 2006. Millennium Development Goals: Needs Assessment Report. Requirement for Goal No.3: Promoting Gender Equality and Women Empowerment. Nairobi: Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services/Ministry of Planning and National Development Kenya, Government of; UNDP and Republic of Finland. 2006. Millennium Development Goals: Needs Assessment Report. Requirement for Goal No.2: Achieving Universal Primary Education. Nairobi: Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services/Ministry of Planning and National Development Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. 2007. Kenya National Adult Literacy Survey Report. Nairobi: KNBS Lewis, M. A and M. E. Lockheed. 2006. Inexcusable Absence – Why 60 Million Girls Still Aren’t in School and What to Do About it. Washington, D.C.: Centre for Global Development Mensch, B.S. and C.B. Lloyd. 1998. "Gender Differences in the Schooling Experiences of Adolescents in Low-Income Countries: The Case of Kenya," Studies in Family Planning, Vol. 29 (2):167-184. Otieno, W. 2003. Gender and Education; The Challenge of Educating Girls in Kenya. Report prepared for ActionAid Kenya/Elimu Yetu Coalition. Nairobi. Uganda National Examinations Board. 2000. The Achievements of Primary School Pupils in Uganda in English and Mathematics; The Achievements of Primary School Pupils in Uganda in Science and Social Studies. Kampala. United Nations’ Development Group (UNDG). 2005. Making the MDGs Matter: A Country Perspective. Report of the UNDG Survey. NY: UNDG
ciii United Nations’ Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) Newsletter, May, 2007 United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 2003. EFA Global Monitoring Report 2003/4. Paris: UNESCO UNESCO. 2006. EFA Global Monitoring Report 2005/06. Paris: UNESCO United Nations’ Children’s Fund (UNICEF). 2003. Africa’s orphaned generation. NY: UNICEF UNICEF. 2000. Defining Education in Quality: A working paper, 2000 UNICEF. 2005a. The State of the World’s Children 2006: Excluded and Invisible. NY: UNICEF UNICEF. 2005b. Progress for Children: A Report Card on Gender Parity and Primary Education, Number 2, April 2005. NY: UNICEF UNICEF. 2006. Unleashing the Power for Change: Review and Annotated Bibliography of Life Skills Materials Used in Eastern Africa. Nairobi: UNICEF ESAR UNICEF. 2006. The State of the World’s Children 2007: Women and Children – The Double Dividend. NY: UNICEF UNICEF. Gender Achievements and Prospects in Education: The Gap Report. Part One. NY: UNICEF UNICEF. 2005. Progress for Children: A Report Card on Gender Parity and Primary Education. Number 2, April. Vespoor, A. 2005. The Challenge of Learning: Improving the Quality of Basic Education in Sub-Saharan Africa. Paris: Association for the Development of Education in Africa. World Bank. 2007. Africa at the Cross Roads: Choices for Secondary Education and Training in Sub-Saharan Africa. Conference edition. Africa Human Development Washington, D.C: The World Bank. World Bank. 2007. Africa at the Cross Roads: Choices for Secondary Education and Training in Sub-Saharan Africa. Conference edition. Africa Human Development Washington, D.C: The World Bank. World Bank. 2005. Expanding Opportunities and Building Competencies for Young People: A New Agenda for Secondary Education. Washington, D.C: The World Bank World Bank, 2007. Africa at the Crossroads: Choices for Secondary Education and Training in Sub-Saharan Africa. Conference Edition. Washington, DC: The World Bank (worldbank.org/afr/seia/).
B: Country Specific Summaries
I. Ethiopia Ethiopia, F.D.R.of. (2007). Education Statistics Annual Abstract, 1998 E.C./2005-06. Addis Ababa. Ministry of Education Ethiopia, F.D.R.of. (2005). Education Sector Development Program (ESDP) III. 2005/06-2010/11. Program Action Plan. Addis Ababa. Ministry of Education
civ Ethiopia, F.D.R.of. (2006a). Ethiopia: Building on Progress – A Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to End Poverty (PASDEP) (2005/06 – 2009/10). Addis Ababa: Ministry of Finance and Economic Development. September Ethiopia, F.D.R.of. (2006b). Education Sector Development Program (ESDP) II. Joint Review Mission Final Report. February. UNICEF. (2007). Gender Sensitive Budgeting Guidelines. Unpublished Report. Education for All (EFA) – First Track Initiative (FTI) Framework Draft Annex, May, 2007.
II. Kenya Deolalikar, A.B. 1999. Primary and Secondary Education In Kenya. A Sector Review in Kenya. Unpublished Research Report. Nairobi. Hongo, B. 2006 KCPE Results announced, The Daily Nation, December, 28th Kenya, Republic of. Education Sector Report, 2007a. Nairobi: Ministry of Education. Kenya, 2007b. KESSP Eligible Expenditure List as at January 1007 Kenya, 2007c. Ministerial Public Expenditure Review. Nairobi: MoE Kenya, Republic of. 2006. Report on FTI Catalytic Fund Progress Report. Unpublished. Kinuthi, N. 2004. Gender gap still wide, East African Standard, Tuesday, March 2, 2004 Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) (2006). Baseline Survey – Social Campaign Program Description: Primary Education in Poor Urban Areas of Nairobi. Unpublished Lacey, M. (2006). “Spare The Rod and Spoil The Country, a Kenyan Warns”. New York Times, June, 2004(www.nytimes.com) Nyaga, C. 2004. Taboos that frustrate teens’ right to choose choices By Thursday, January 29 Nyasato, R. 2003. FGM Still a Threat to Learning, East African Standard, Saturday, December 27, 2003 Ojwang, A. 2004. Good Teachers Lay Firm Foundation. School and Career, The East African Standard, Thursday, January 29, 2004 Otieno, W. 2003. Gender and Education: The Challenge of Educating Girls in Kenya. Report for Elimu Yetu Coalition. Nairobi. Promin Consultants. 2005. Free Primary Education Support Project (FPESP) Mid-Term Evaluation Report. Niarobi. Unpublished Report Ringa, M. 2003. Girl, 12, Leaves Marriage for School East African Standard, Thursday, November 27
III. Malawi Burton, P. (2005). Suffering at School. Results of the Malawi Gender Based Violence in Schools Survey. Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies.2005. Chimombo, J, Chibwanna, M, Dzimadzi, C, Kadzamira, E; Kunkwenzu, E and Namposa, D. (2000). Classroom School and Home Factors that Negatively Affect Girls
cv Education in Malawi. Report to UNICEF. Centre for Educational Research and Training. December. Kadzamira, E.C. (2006). Review of the Planning and Implementation of Free Primary Education in Malawi. Report to UNICEF. Kadzamira, S.C., D.M.Banda, A. Kamlongera and N.Swianson. (2001). The Impact of HIC/AIDS on Primary and Secondary Schooling in Malawi: Developing a Comprehensive Strategic Response. Lilongwe: Centre for Educational Research and Training (CERT). Malawi, Republic of. (2005). National Action Plan of Action for Orphans and Vulnerable Children, 2005 – 2009. Lilongwe: Government of Malawi. Malawi, Republic of. 2006. Education Statistics. Lilongwe: Department of Planning, MoEVT Pelser, E; L. Gondwe, C. Mayamba, W. Phiri and P. (2005). Burton Intimate Partner Violence: Results from a National Gender Based Violence in Malawi. Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies. United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). (2007). UNDAF in Malawi. 2008 – 2001. Unpublished UNICEF. (2007). Government of Malawi – UNICEF Country Program of Cooperation 2008 – 2011. Lilongwe: GoM/UNICEF.
IV. Uganda Action Aid Uganda. 2004. Scoping Study on Gender based violence in educational Institutions. The communication Unit, Action Aid Uganda. Bwire, R. (2006). “More females set to join Makerere University in August 2006”. “Good Gender Practices for Development”. Makerere University. The Focus Magazine Vol. 3 No. 2 FAWE-U. (2000). A Baseline Survey for the Project Advocating for an Educational Policy on School Pregnancy and School Dropout in Uganda.” Un-published report, FAWE-U, Kampala. Forum for African Women Educatonalists (FAWE) Uganda Chapter (FAWE-U) and ActionAid Uganda. 2002. Gains and Challenges in the Education Sector. Best practices in girls’ education: A Case of selected NGOs in Uganda. Unpublished Report. Foundation for Human Rights Initiatives (FHRI). 2001. The Right to Education in Uganda; A myth or Reality? Special reference to the Universal Primary Education Program (UPE). A research report presented at the Public Debate on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Uganda. International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Uganda Chapter (FIDA-U). 2004. Child Sexual Abuse in Kampala, Mpigi and Wakiso Districts and Implementation of the Children Act. Kampala Uganda. International Labour Organisation (ILO). (2006). Emerging Good Practices on Action to Combat Child Domestic Labour in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. International Labour Organisation. ILO/IPEC Office, Kampala, Kariuki, W. 2006. Improving Education Opportunities for Karamoja. UNICEF, Unpublished report.
cvi Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR) (2003). The Project of Growing up and Sexual Maturation in Secondary Schools – Uganda. Unpublished report. Makerere University’s Department of Women and Gender Studies. (2002). Annual Report. Kampala: Makerere University Muhwezi, K.D. 2003. Gender Sensitive Education Policy and Practices, Uganda Case Study. Naker, D. 2005. Violence against children: The Voices of Ugandan Children and Adults. Raising Voices and Save the Children in Uganda Kampala Uganda. Ocowun, C. 2006. Uganda Shillings 35 billion education campaign launched 2006. The New Vision, Monday September 18, 2006. Okello, R. 2006. “UNICEF has launched a campaign to sensitize the Karimojong about the importance of educating girls”. The New Vision, Monday, September 11, 2006. Ongoza, B. 1999. Gender Issues Among the Deaf: UNAD Newsletter No. 6 1999. Uganda National Association of the Deaf (UNAD) Uganda, Republic of./USAID. Undated. Thematic Curriculum. Kampala: MoES/USAID Uganda, Republic of. 2007a. Uganda Gender Policy. Kampala: MoES Uganda, Republic of. 2007b. Aide Memoire for the 4th Annual Education Sector Planning and Budgeting Workshop (10th – 11th May 2007). June. Kampala: MoES Uganda, Republic of. 2007c. Policy and Operational Arrangements for Implementation of Universal Secondary Education (USE). January. Kampala: MoES Uganda, Republic of. 2007d. Ministerial Policy Statement for Financial Year 2007/2008. January. Kampala: MoES Uganda, Republic of. 2006a. Final Aide Memoire for the 13th Education and Sports Sector Review. Kampala: MoES Uganda, Republic of. 2006b. Gender Inequality in Uganda: The Status, Causes and Effects. Kampala: Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Uganda, Republic of. 2006c. Ministry of Education Sector Annual Performance Report ESAPR). Kampala: MoES Uganda, Republic of. 2006d. Gender and Education Policy. Revised and Shortened Version. November. Kampala: MoES Uganda, Republic of./UNICEF. 2005. Report on the Situation of Children and Women in the Republic of Uganda. Kampala: UNICEF Uganda, Republic of./UNICEF. 2005. Government of Uganda – UNICEF Country Program 2006 – 2010. Kampala: UNICEF Uganda, Republic of. 2005b. Sanitation and Hygiene in Primary Schools: School Sanitation Survey. Unpublished Report. Child Health and Development Centre, Mulago, Kampala. Kampala: MoES Uganda, Republic of. 2001a. Basic Requirements and Minimum Standards Indicators for Educational Institutions. Kampala: MoES Uganda, Republic of. 2001b. Basic Education Policy for Educationally Disadvantaged Children. Kampala: MoES Uganda, Republic of. 2000. The National Strategy for the Girls’ Education in Uganda (NSGE). Article 1, EFA conference, Jomtien, 1990. Kampala: MoES UNICEF. 2006. Government of Uganda
cvii List of Interviewees
I. Ethiopia 1. Wzo. Asmaru Berhiun, Head, Gender and Equity Department, Ministry of Education 2. Wzo. Tiruwork Tizazu, Head, Gender Department, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development 3. Wzo. Eleni Mamo, Program Officer, Education 4. Wzo. Maekelech Gidey, Program Officer and OIC 5. Consultant, Gender Sensitive Budgeting Handbook 6. Principal Officer, Planning, Ministry of Education 7. UNICEF Monitoring and Evaluation Officer
II. Malawi 1. Mr. Enock Matale, Deputy Head of EMIS Unit, MoE 2. Mr. Wictor Sajeni, Gender Specialist, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) 3. Mr. Ralph Agabu, Deputy Director, Ed Methods Advisory Services, MoE 4. Ms. Amelia J. Muyco, Deputy Program Manager, Education, DFID Malawi 5. Ms. Margaret Khombe, Gender Focal Point, Ministry of Education and Vocational Training 6. Dr. Augustine Kamlongera, Director of Planning, MoE
III. Uganda 1. Jane Egau Okou, Principal Education Officer, Coordinator Human Resources for Health Program, Ministry of Education and Sports 2. Fiona Musana, EFAG Liaison Officer, GTZ 3. Maureen Bakunzi, PPA 4. Cuthbert Mulyalya, Ag C, PME 5. Ainebyona Wilber, PE Budget, Ag. Asst AC, PB 6. Yusuf Nsubuga, Ag. Director of Education 7. John Agaba, Ag. Commissioner, Secondary 8. Mary Goretti, University Secretary, Kyambogo University
IV. Kenya Aminata Maiga, Chief, Education Yeshi Haile, Program Officer Amina Ibrahim, Program Officer, NFE
cviii i These include (UNESCO, 2003; UNICEF, 2000; European Union; Plan International, 2005), among others. a). UNESCO defines two sets of proxies in defining quality, that is teachers and expenditure on education; b). European Commission – has identified selected 16 indicators grouped into four main area – attainment, success and transition, monitoring of school education, and, resources and structures; c). the US Department of Education - has used 31 indicators to compare education in the US and other G8 Countries, using the following indicators for pre-primary and primary education - Early Childhood Enrolment (also used in EFA monitoring), Student/Teacher ratios in primary education (also used in EFA monitoring), Public school teachers’ salaries in primary education, Instructional strategy (methodology) in primary education, Primary students’ attitudes towards mathematics and science, and, Mathematics and Science Achievement in primary education; d). Plan International – developed a School Quality Index (SQI) in 1996 that attempts to quantify the quality on the basis of scores assigned to 39 input, process, output and outcome indicators. ii The countries are Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda, Sierra-Leone, Togo and Zambia. iii The data source for this Table is UIS, which is normally two years behind. It is therefore possible that there are current data from other sources. However, in most cases, even from national statistical sources, delay in collecting and processing data is common. iv SACMEQ I tests were administered in 1998 and SACMEQ II in 2000. The third test is planned for 2007 in the participating countries. v Throughout this document, ‘Tanzania’ refers to the United Republic of Tanzania that includes Zanzibar. Where source document(s) contains separate data for Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar, the data is combined and the resulting average index is presented for ‘Tanzania’ vi Of the 10 African countries in the sample, the pattern of addressing all the six goals was as follows: five addresses Goal 1 (ECCE); all 10 addresses Goal 2 (UPE) while 3 addresses Goal 3 (youth/adult learning). Goal 4 (literacy) is addressed by six countries, Goal 5 (Gender) is addressed by 8 countries, while nine countries address Goal 6 (quality). vii The UNGEI task forces in the countries are chaired by either the Ministry of Education (Ethiopia) or the local chapters of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) (Malawi, Kenya and Uganda). FAWE also chairs the regional UNGEI task force. viii Investment program not directly under EFA but within education include investments in TTCs, TIVET, university, construction, ICT, and TIVET Teachers’ Salary ix The MDGs are presented in first section of this report under ‘Background’. It deals focuses on strengthening “national and regional information, and statistical and analytical services relevant to sustainable development policies and programs, including data disaggregated by sex, age and other factors, and encourage donors to provide financial and technical support to developing countries to enhance their capacity to formulate policies and implement programs for sustainable development”. The focus on this MDG will make it easier to track progress on all aspects of educational participation, and facilitate sharing and discussion among policy makers, scholars, practitioners and other stakeholders. x In the FY 2006/07 alone, the gap is estimated to be US$ 384.2m (EFA-FTI Framework Draft Annex, May, 2007) xi This section only provides a summary of the measures. They are described in more detail in ESDP III, pp.57-58 xii In the MoE, the department is charged with designing and implementing strategies to address equity issues in education, of which girls’ education is given prominence. It plans and coordinates the different departments to support the implementation of programs in the regions from an equity perspective. xiii However, 2006 EMIS data gives the trained pupil teacher ratio of 1: 82. The ratio has been deteriorating from 82 in 2004 and 83 in 2005. The overall PTR for 2006 is given as 1:76. xiv Traditional Authority (TA) in Malawi are local traditional leaders, equivalent to locational chiefs or village elders in a number of African countries. They are recognized in the government structure and are an important moral and administrative authority in their areas of jurisdiction. xv Some of these partners include the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, UNICEF, UNDP, WFP, FAO, UNHCR, UNFPA, UNAIDS, DFID, NORAD, USAID, DANIDA, CIDA, AUSAID, Government of Netherlands, and other National UNICEF Committees. xvi These figures are based on the ESAPR (Uganda, 2006c). Cohort analysis shows that only 21% of girls and 24 of boys complete primary schooling (Uganda/UNICEF, 2005). xvii The materials include Wall Charts, Picture Cards, Math Work Cards, Mathematics Practice Books, English Work Cards and Pupils’ Reading Books in various local languages and bilingual dictionaries (Uganda, 2007d). xviii Another advantage of modular approach is short learning periods using specific modules. One can go for a specific program, e.g. for three months.