The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and development aid to children worldwide, with presence in 192 countries and territories, has stepped up its efforts and investments in girls’ education across territories.

UNICEF in a paper on why it invests in girls’ education, stated that such investment transforms communities, countries and the entire world, adding that girls who receive an education are less likely to marry young and more likely to lead healthy, productive lives as they earn higher incomes, participate in the decisions that mostly affect them, and build better futures for themselves and their families.

According to the agency, girls’ education strengthens economies and reduces inequality while contributing to more stable, resilient societies that give all individuals – including boys and men, the opportunity to fulfill their potential but education for girls is about more than access to school. It’s also about girls feeling safe in classrooms and supported in the subjects and careers they choose to pursue – including those in which they are often under-represented.

The agency said, “When we invest in girls’ secondary education, the lifetime earnings of girls dramatically increase, national growth rates rise, child marriage rates decline, child mortality rates fall, maternal mortality rates fall and child stunting drops.”

It added that despite evidence demonstrating how central girls’ education is to development, gender disparities in education persist and around the world, 129 million girls are out of school, including 32 million of primary school age, 30 million of lower-secondary school age and 67 million of upper-secondary school age.

“In countries affected by conflict, girls are more than twice more likely to be out of school than girls living in non-affected countries. Only 49 percent of countries have achieved gender parity in primary education. At the secondary level, the gap widens: 42 percent of countries have achieved gender parity in lower secondary education, and 24 percent in upper secondary education.

“Gender-equitable education systems empower girls and boys and promote the development of life skills – like self-management, communication, negotiation and critical thinking – that young people need to succeed. They close skills gaps that perpetuate pay gaps, and build prosperity for entire countries. It can contribute to reductions in school-related gender-based violence and harmful practices, including child marriage and female genital mutilation and help keep both girls and boys in school, building prosperity for entire countries.

“An education free of negative gender norms has direct benefits for boys, too. In many countries, norms around masculinity can fuel disengagement from school, child labour, gang violence and recruitment into armed groups. The need or desire to earn an income also causes boys to drop out of secondary school, as many of them believe the curriculum is not relevant to work opportunities,” UNICEF said.

It believes that investing in girls’ secondary education is one of the most transformative development strategies and society must prioritise efforts that enable girls to complete secondary education and develop the knowledge and skills they need for life and work.

“This will only be achieved when the most disadvantaged girls are supported to enter and complete pre-primary and primary education. Our work is to tackle discriminatory gender norms and harmful practices that deny girls access to school and quality learning, support governments to ensure that budgets are gender-responsive and that national education plans and policies prioritize gender equality, help to use assessment data to eliminate gender gaps in learning, promote social protection measures, including cash transfers, to improve girls’ transition to and retention in secondary school and remove gender stereotypes from learning materials,” it said.

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