GIRLS' EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA

Key education reforms in 1996 united South Africa’s education system and abolished the hierarchy from the apartheid era, devolving power to schools. But change is slow and poverty and HIV/AIDS are having a profound effect on South African households. The effects are felt most severely in the former homelands and on commercial farms, where 7 out of every 10 public schools are located, and in the informal settlements surrounding towns and cities. Many children, especially girls, leave school to help support their families. Girls who do stay in school are less likely than boys to pass the leaving examination by 6-7 percentage points.

THE BARRIERS

• Planning environment. Weaknesses have negatively affected promoting gender equality.

• Limited gender analysis. The lack of gender-disaggregated data and to the need for improved monitoring and evaluation has contributed to the lack of analysis.

• HIV/AIDS. The pandemic is starting to decimate the education system.

• A gender biased curriculum. The curriculum also does not include life skills.

• Lack of qualified African female teachers. There is a lack of role models who can offer quality education.

• Violence in schools. Girls tend to be treated as second class citizens which is most visibly manifested in the highest rates of violence and harassment of girls and women in the world.

UNICEF IN ACTION

UNICEF is working with the Government to strengthen the education system, and to build capacity in order to transform school communities in three target provinces: KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), Limpopo Province (LP) and Eastern Cape (EC). UNICEF is involved in the following:

• National policy development and gender sensitization in education.

• Supporting young people to be the agents of change through the Girls’ Education Movement (GEM). The GEM Action Plan in South Africa includes empowering girls to participate actively in decisions that concern them; promoting peace education programmes to resolve conflicts that expose girls to violence; promoting life skills-based education to empower girls to fight HIV/AIDS; taking affirmative action to promote girls in mathematics, science, and technology; promoting mentoring; making the teaching learning processes gender-responsive; and moving beyond access to focus on the quality of girls’ education.

• Supporting actions and the development of partnerships to overcome violence against girls through Provincial Forums made up of representatives from government and civil society.

• Promoting low-cost family and community-based early childhood development programmes.

• Working with the National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB), which has incorporated girls’ education into its mission, to promote child rights and democratic governance in South Africa’s schools, and dealing with issues such as HIV/AIDS, early pregnancy, violence and harassment.

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

The Girls’ Education Project has extended its focus from supporting individual gender activists to supporting institutional change in school communities. Together with its partners, UNICEF has:

• Helped to develop the first-ever provincial gender policy for the Northern Province of Education.

• Collaborated with the Human Rights Commission to develop a campaign to sensitize teachers on the negative impact of corporal punishment and violence against women and established provincial partnerships to prevent violence against girls.

• Developed a multi-pronged strategy to combat HIV/AIDS through education, including working with the Department of Education to incorporate HIV/AIDS education and life skills into their policies.

• Developed audio-visual and print material on gender advocacy and conducted a media campaign to raise awareness on girls’ education.

GIRLS’ EDUCATION: SOUTH AFRICA AT A GLANCE




FUTURE PLANS

UNICEF's plans include, but are not limited to:

• Increasing the reach of current projects and approaches within target provinces.

• Strengthening school governance and community involvement to understand barriers to girls’ education and to create child and girl friendly schools.

• Supporting the preparation of a gender and life skills responsive curriculum for early childhood development and basic education with appropriate assessment to monitor learning.

• Programming to reach on a more consistent basis out of school children with an emphasis on vulnerable and marginalized groups.

PARTNERSHIPS

UNICEF has established partnerships with the Government of South Africa and a range of organizations both at the national and the provincial level that focus on gender issues and child rights. Through these partnerships UNICEF has employed strategies of communication and networking, capacity building, and advocacy to address child rights and girls’ education within the broader African context. Specific partners include: National and Provincial Departments of Education (DoE), South African Council for Educators (SACE), the Crime Reduction in School Project (CRISP), SchoolNet South Africa, Women’s Net, the Human Science Research Council (HSRC), the Centre for Education Policy Development (CEPD), The British Council, National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB), South African Girl Child Alliance (SAGCA), Fort Hare University, University of the North, University of Pretoria, communities, parents, educators, children and traditional leaders.


http://www.unicef.org/girlseducation/index.html