Every Girl Deserves an Education—Make Sure She Can Get One!

Anonymous school children, all girls, in front of a blackboard at an unidentified school somewhere in Sierra Leone.

Anonymous school children, all girls, in front of a blackboard at an unidentified school somewhere in Sierra Leone.

Education is a human right. It is both a right in itself and also a pathway to the enjoyment of other rights. Education is also an inalienable right for every child, and every child deserves the opportunity to receive one.

The education of young people is critical in ensuring youth—and society at large—can enjoy all their human rights. This is especially true for girl children. Educating girls has dramatic effects not only on the girl herself, but also on her broader society.

Educating girls reduces maternal mortality, reduces levels of malnutrition, reduces adolescent pregnancy, delays and prevents early marriage, and improves economic stability. At the same time, girl children, globally, are less likely to be enrolled in school than boy children and are more vulnerable to violence and discrimination in school.

That’s why this 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based violence, Amnesty International and other organizations around the world are working to make education safe for all!

Equal access to a safe education is a critical right for all children, but for girl children this right is often denied. This 16 Days, we’ll be highlighting the critical role of education for girls, and how you can help ensure all girls can access their rights to equal, safe education.

Take Sierra Leone, for example, where every child has the right to an education… unless, that is, you’re a girl—then it depends on your pregnancy status.

This April, the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology in Sierra Leone issued a statement banning pregnant girls from mainstream education. As a result, thousands of pregnant girls are excluded from mainstream schools and barred from sitting in upcoming exams.

The ban on visibly pregnant girls attending mainstream schools and sitting exams violates their right to education and to non-discrimination. Education is being treated as a privilege that can be taken away as punishment, rather than as a right of all children, regardless of their pregnancy status. The policy is also blatantly discriminatory, and is founded in, and reinforces, negative stereotypes about girls.

Even more concerning is that the ban is enforced in humiliating and degrading ways that stigmatize and traumatize girls and threatens their physical integrity and privacy. One 18-year-old girl told Amnesty International how all girls were checked by teachers before they were allowed to sit an exam:

“They touched our breasts and stomachs to see if we were pregnant. Some girls were made to take urine tests. One of the teachers was wearing gloves when she was checking us. I felt really embarrassed when this happened to me. Many girls left as they were scared the teachers would find out they are pregnant. About 12 pregnant girls did not sit their exams.”

Punishing pregnant girls by denying them education is discriminatory and unlawful, and it puts already vulnerable girls at increased risk; it’s even more disturbing when considering that many adolescent pregnancies result from rights violations including failure to protect girls from sexual violence. What’s more, sex education in schools in Sierra Leone is limited and was removed from the curricula after the war over a decade ago, meaning that the government is first failing in its human rights obligations to provide adequate sexual and reproductive health education and then punishing girls for that failure.

We hope you’ll join us in calling on the government of Sierra Leone to guarantee girls’ human rights to non-discrimination and education by immediately lifting the ban.

Join us this 16 Day of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence; follow our blog series and learn how you can ensure all girls have the right to education.

AIUSA welcomes a lively and courteous discussion that follow our Community Guidelines. Comments are not pre-screened before they post but AIUSA reserves the right to remove any comments violating our guidelines.

20 thoughts on “Every Girl Deserves an Education—Make Sure She Can Get One!

  1. Yes i am totally agree with you in that topic . Education compulsory not only men but also on women. If you want to be good society then the 1st step is women education. now end of the comment "usefull books to read daily and told us our here and there study are compulsory every human . Thanks

  2. Education may be a right. it's each a right in itself and conjointly a pathway to the enjoyment of alternative rights. Education is additionally associate degree inalienable right for each kid, and each kid deserves the chance to receive one.

  3. I always like your blog post because you always comes with different ideas and information. I always shared your site post with my friends. Keep posting and i will follow you.

  4. Yes, every girl deserves education in her life due to the needs and desires of the personal nature for success in life. Visits of the links of god-mindbooks.com are helpful for the girls to get education and become literate.

  5. Every nation had made the right to education compulsory for each and every individual living in their country. In the same way every girl child should be given the same aspect like the http://www.ieltscanadatest.com that does a lot in this regard. Education is the only way that gives hope to the girls to show or prove themselves.

  6. I am really impressed to have online schools for best child education. We have so many options in the custom essays writing blog. Villagers can easily get education and knowledge with the following instructions.

  7. Education are always important! By the way, I have done my graduation last year. Do you want to know about granny dating ? You can visit the link now and get more information about that. Thank you so much.

  8. It is necessary and important to educate for everyone. If all the people will education then they make a strong nation. Therefore, education play a vital role for the development of any country.cheap virtual assistant

  9. Letters of recommendation are routinely sought for employment and education situations. You may also find yourself asked to write a reference letter for someone seeking to adopt a child, get into college or be released on parole.

  10. There is an array of definitions present in the internet for the phrase 'Online Virtual Assistant'. But the most common understanding about this is that it gives online administrative support through the use of computer and the internet.

Comments are closed.