Girls' Education

GPE wants:

The challenge

• Women represent nearly two thirds of the world’s illiterate
• 32 million girls are still out of school around the world
• The completion rates and learning levels of girls are lower than those of boys
• Participation of girls in school decreases as they progress through the education system
• Too many girls in developing countries are still shut out of school, denying them their fundamental right to education.

Why we focus on girls

Educating girls has benefits not just for themselves but also for their families, communities and countries. With a quality education, girls can make informed choices, improving their country’s social and economic well-being by promoting the health and welfare of the next generation.

There is vast evidence suggesting that countries with better gender equality and less gender disparity in primary and secondary education are more likely to have higher economic growth. Some countries lose more than $1 billion a year by failing to educate girls to the same level as boys. An educated female population increases a country’s productivity and fuels economic growth.

More educated women tend to be healthier, work and earn more income, have fewer children, and provide better health care and education to their children. Girls’ education literally saves millions of lives, according to UNICEF.

Our response

• Increase gender parity and enrolment overall
• Provide strong incentives, technical and financial support to developing country partners, to include gender strategies in their education plans
• Support the enrolment of out-of-school girls into primary school
• Ensure that girls make the crucial transition from primary to secondary school

Results to date

• 68% of girls in GPE countries now finish primary school, compared to 56% in 2002
• 18 GPE partner countries now have as many girls as boys completing primary school