The Education for All - Fast Track Initiative (EFA FTI) welcomes a new report calling for the EFA FTI to expand financing and policy support for girls in developing countries to make a more successful transition to secondary school. The report 'Make it Right: Ending the crisis in girls' education' by Results and the Global Campaign for Education emphasizes how an improvement in the quality of learning will have an extraordinary positive impact for girls. It also states that EFA FTI should better address the large gender inequalities in education in populous countries and fragile and conflict-affected states.

"The report rightly underscores that although large numbers of girls enroll in school in the poorest countries in the world, too many girls drop out early and learning levels are disproportionally low for girls", says Robert Prouty, Head of the EFA FTI Secretariat. "It is not acceptable that in 47 out of 54 African countries, girls have less than a 50% chance of going to secondary school", he adds.

The new study mentions how a reformed and relaunched EFA FTI could serve as a mechanism to inspire a breakthrough in girls' education. It applauds FTI for making gender and the transition of girls to lower secondary education one of the three policy priorities in its replenishment campaign. "I am happy to note the report's support for the FTI replenishment campaign and for more funds to education overall, says Robert Prouty. ”Ensuring that the financing is in place is a fundamental step to advance girls' education in our partner countries, both in quality as well as in quantity. But it is only one part of the answer. We need to ensure that strong gender policies are mainstreamed into the programs we support and that we measure and monitor progress. As the report notes, we also need to dedicate attention and funds to the needs of girls and marginalized children in post-conflict and fragile states, where the needs are the highest, and the provision of good teachers and safe education facilities has been the lowest."