Online Education Blog

The persistence of widespread illiteracy is one of the serious problems that many developing countries are struggling with in the year 2003. As the World Education Forum in Dakar in 2000 stated: “more than 113 million children have no access to primary education, 880 million adults are illiterate, gender discrimination continues to permeate education systems, and the quality of learning and the acquisition of human values and skills fall far short of the aspirations and needs of individuals and societies” (The Dakar Framework for Action 2000). The illiteracy and low educational achievement of girls and women in many countries is a problem of particular urgency. In the developing countries there are 66 % more adult women than men that are illiterate, and the female school enrolment rate at primary level is 13 % lower than that of males. Since the 1970’s the education of girls and women in developing countries have been on the agenda of scholars of education and of international development agencies. Multiple policies and programmes have since then been implemented by NGO’s, national governments and international development agencies with the aim of increasing girls’ participation in education. But despite these efforts to expand girls’ access to and attainment in education, low female enrolment in schooling and illiteracy of women were still widespread in 1990 when the World Education Forum was held in Jomtien, Thailand. The conference resulted in two important documents on education: the World Declaration on Education for All and A Framework for Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs. Besides emphasizing the goal of basic education for all, the documents underlined the importance of ensuring better access to basic education for girls, while giving less special attention to the literacy needs of adult women (Sutton 1998; 382 & Dighe 1998; 421). The conference made it a condition to achieve the goal of Education for All (EFA) by the year 2000 and listed the strategies by which to achieve it (Buchert 1996; 73-74). But by the year 2000 the educational goals had not been achieved. The World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, was held which culminated in the Dakar Framework for Action. The framework was seen as a renewed commitment to achieve EFA by 2015. Furthermore did the Dakar declaration place particular emphasis on the goal of reaching gender equality in education and focused on ensuring both girls’ and women’s full and equal access to and achievement in basic and continuing education of good quality (The Dakar Framework for Action 2000). It also emphasized the need to reform the school curriculum so that it is more gender sensitive and more conducive to gender equality. Important issues of good quality and gender equality in educational concerns the need for change in values and practices that reproduce patterns of gender discrimination. In recent years studies have been examining how the traditional patriarchal gender roles and values are reproduced in the curriculum of educational institutions. Low expectations of girls by girls themselves, and by female and male teachers, parents, students and the society in general are main reasons why gender stereotypes is being reproduced in the educational system. The special attention paid on the education of women and girls in development policies, activities and projects arise out of the knowledge that ensuring basic education for all, especially the education of women and girls and achieving gender equality are important elements in promoting development and advancement in people’s life quality as well as a means to empowering women themselves. Empowerment as the expansion of freedom of choice and action is identified by the World Bank as one of the key elements of poverty reduction and a primary development goal. The promotion of women’s empowerment as a development goal is based on a dual argument: that gender equality is a crucial aspect of human welfare and intrinsically worth pursuing and a means to other ends such as the promotion of growth, reduction of poverty and promotion of better governance.