In Africa, l’accesso all’istruzione per le ragazze è disseminato di ostacoli.

Dal New York Times, 14.12.2003

 

L’autore dell’articolo prende spunto dalla realtà di un villaggio del Benin, nell’Africa sud sahariana, dove fino a sei anni addietro, alle ragazze era addirittura proibito andare a scuola. Ricevevano una sorta di educazione dallo stregone del villaggio, fino a che non prendevano marito. In questi ultimi anni, le famiglie possono mandare una figlia a scuola, purchè ne lascino   un’altra ad educare dallo stregone.

L’ultima ricerca dell’Unicef, relativa agli anni  1996-2002 valuta intorno al 59 per cento il tasso di studenti  che frequenta la scuola, al di sotto, quindi della percentuale registrata in qualunque altra parte del mondo. E per le ragazze africane, questo dato è ancora più basso, rapportato al 71 per cento dell’Asia e al 75 percento del Medio Oriente e dell’Africa del nord. Ma il dato più allarmante è la tendenza all’aumento del numero di ragazze non scolarizzate: 20 milioni nel 1990, addirittura  24 milioni nel 2002. I costi della mancata istruzione delle ragazze sono alti, come alta la probabilità di vivere in povertà da adulte, di morire di parto, di contrarre Aids e di allevare figli poveri e malati. Raggiungere l’obiettivo di scolarizzare la regione sub sahariana, allo stato attuale sembra  impossibile.

Dice Carol Bellamy, direttore esecutivo dell’Unicef: “ Sarebbe criminale fallire quest’obiettivo. Noi crediamo che l’educazione delle ragazze sia il più importante investimento  che si possa fare, non solo per stimolare l’istruzione di tutti i giovani, ma anche per raggiungere diversi obiettivi di sviluppo del millennio.   

 

African Girls' Route to School Is Still Littered With Obstacles

By SOMINI SENGUPTA

Published: December 14, 2003

KOUTAGBA, Benin — For as long as anyone could remember, the girls of this village had been forbidden to go to school. They were to be educated instead by the local voodoo priest, in a secret rite of passage not to be spoken about to anyone. When they finished, they were to be married. They and their children were to forever enjoy the protection of the voodoo priest.

That was until six years ago, when, with prodding from local government and United Nations officials, an extraordinary deal was struck. Every family in Koutagba could send one girl to school, the priest agreed, so long as it also sent another to him.

The mothers of the village fell on their knees, laid bottles of home-brew at his feet and prayed. Two years ago, two Koutagba girls finished primary school. Today, 8 of the 27 pupils in fifth grade are girls. So is nearly half of the first grade.

The story of this tiny, remote hamlet in the heart of West Africa offers a metaphor for the challenges facing girls' education on the continent.

In spite of the steady progress in increasing school enrollment in sub-Saharan Africa, only 59 percent of all children attended primary school from 1996 to 2002, the lowest percentage of any region in the world, according to a report released Thursday by the United Nations Children's Fund, or Unicef.

For girls, because of a mix of traditional mores, crippling poverty and a lack of international aid for education, the numbers are even lower. Only 57 percent of girls were enrolled during the same period — again, by far the lowest rate worldwide, according to the Unicef report. (In South Asia, by comparison, girls' enrollment reached 71 percent during the same period, and in the Middle East and North Africa 75 percent.)

Perhaps most alarming of all, the number of girls out of school in sub-Saharan Africa rose over the last decade, to 24 million in 2002 from 20 million in 1990, according to the Unicef report. The costs of leaving girls out of school have already proved to be high, researchers say. Uneducated girls are more prone to live in poverty as adults, die in childbirth, contract H.I.V. and raise children who, in turn, are likely to be poor and in ill health.

A report released by Unesco, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, in November painted an equally bleak picture, shining a light on the gender gap in countries like this one. While girls' enrollment in Benin increased by 9 percent over five years, the gap between boys and girls remains among the highest anywhere.

The latest reports stand in the face of recent pledges made by world leaders. Reaching gender parity by 2005 was among the principal development goals at the United Nations Millennium Summit meeting three years ago, along with reducing infant mortality and hunger. Reaching the education target in sub-Saharan Africa now appears unlikely, if not impossible.

"It would be criminal to fail on that goal," Carol Bellamy, executive director of Unicef, said in a telephone interview. "We believe that girls' education may be the single most important investment you can make to propel not only education for all, but several of the millennium development goals."

Ms. Bellamy singled out school fees, which were a fixture of World Bank-led economic reform packages for the last decade, as the largest obstacle to girls' education. In societies where girls are considered unworthy of the investment, many poor parents pay for their sons, not their daughters, to go to school. Girls are put to work, helping their mothers fetch water and firewood, caring for younger siblings, sweeping and cooking. Persuading mothers to send daughters to school is often a formidable practical challenge. In some places, nurseries have been set up to relieve young girls of baby-sitting chores; in others, wells have been installed close to schools to save the girls from long walks.

Education specialists also point a finger at donor countries. Overall development aid has shrunk, and financing for education has fallen. Even a much-lauded education program begun by the World Bank two years ago, the Fast Track Initiative, remains woefully underfinanced.