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Journey to Progress

Towhida Waheed writes on how women are overcoming barriers to education
FAZLE Hasan Abed. Founder and Executive Director of BRAC. told a World Bank conference in Washington last week -, — that to transform Bangladesh society, no single intervention will be as significant as the promotion of education of girls in the thousands of villages across the country. In Bangladesh remarkable progress has been made in enrolling children - as many girls as boys - to primary schools. However, many girls drop out before completing secondary school: only 20 per cent enroll in higher education. Less than 14 per cent of our country's secondary school teachers are women, and only 8 per cent in rural areas. More than half of rural secondary schools have never employed a woman teacher. Bangladesh is not alone. At least 130 million children world-wide are not attending school: 81 million of those are girls. By the time she is 18. a girl has had an average of 4.4 fewer years of education than a boy.
The following stories show how real and imagined barriers work against gender parity in education.
Three Stories
Mahfuza. aged 13. read in Class 7 in her village. Her teacher Rupali noticed that Mahfuza looked worried and often fell asleep during class. Upon gentle probing. Mahfuza revealed that her mother had been ill for a month, so she had to do all the housework and lake care of four siblings. Her parents wanted Mahfuza to leave school and get married early, just like her mother did. They were worried that she had a long walk to school. Thej were also worried that she would fall her exams this year Rupali visited Mahfuza's parents and asked them to give het a chance to help Mahfuza with her studies.
Rupali had her own diffi-
culty to overcome. She was only a temporary' teacher at the school. A permanent post had just become vacant due to the death of an elderly male science teacher. Although Rupali graduated with honours in biology and was thus qualified for the job, the School Management Committee favored a male candidate who was less qualified but promised a Tk. 50.000 donation - if he was- hired - to help the” school with much needed classroom repairs.
Shahnaz taught English and Principles of Education at a Teacher Training College. She was nominated to participate in a 5-day training program at the capital city. Her male colleagues told the college principal that women did not like to travel long distances and could not leave their families. They said that the training would be of little value to her since women devote little time to their work. Shahnaz managed to persuade the principal to let her go. As she informed her husband and started to get ready for the trip, her husband forbade her to go because she was to stay overnight in a hotel
Shared Experiences, Shared Efforts ...
The World Conference on Education for All held in Jom-tien. Thailand in 1990. singled out education of women and girls as the most urgent development priority in the world. In China, a programme involving parents, community leaders. local and national government agencies, UNICEF, and other organisations, taught mothers literacy skills so that they could become more involved in their daughters' education. In Jamaica, a women's centre with a certified teaching programme for adolescent mothers was set up so that teenage girls who became pregnant and would normally drop out of school could continue to study and return to the formal education system later. In Zimbabwe, local communities formed discussion groups on gender issues and organised life
skills workshops, resulting in more girls attending scliool throughout the country, and breaking patterns of gender imbalance and inequity.
In the Islamic Republic of Iran, many families did not send their daughters to schools with male teachers. The Government had a simple and effective strategy: training and em-. ploying more women teachers. Schools thus , became less threatening' for both parents and students. Since 1995 enrollment figure of girls in rural primary schools has risen from 60 to 80 per cent, with a 95 per cent completion rate. In 1999. a new milestone was established when girls comprised 52 per cent of new students accepted into Iran's public universities.
In Bangladesh, efforts have started in a number of government and non-governmental educational programmes to Improve curricula, textbooks and support materials so they do not stereotype girls and boys in certain ways. Girls receive stipends to attend secondary schools. Quotas are set by the Government for schools to hire 60 per cent and 30 per cent women teachers at primary and secondary levels, respectively.
Happy Endings ...
The Headmaster of Mah-fuza's school happily wrote that Mahfuza had successfully passed her exams. She is studying harder and is determined to continue studying so that she can one day become a teacher like Rupall-apa.
Rupali. after three repeat interviews. was eventually appointed as the science teacher at her school. The Headmaster convinced the School Management Committee that a good teacher is more important to the children than a classroom. She continues to make her* lessons interesting and remains gentle and caring to the children in her class, paying attention. especially to those who need more help than others. Rupali Is gaining a lot of respect among her colleagues and parents of the children, as well as the School Management Committee.
Shanaz attended the training. She was one of the most active participants in the program. Her enthusiasm, ability to reflect on new Ideas and share her insights received special commendation from the trainers. Her contribution was much appreciated by other trainees. She is now working hard to implement an action plan for applying what she
learnt during the training. She also actively promotes participation of her women colleagues in professional development opportunities such as the one she was able to experience.
The stories of Mahfuza, Rupali, and Shahnaz are based on actual cases reported to PROMOTE during 1999-2000. The names of the girls and women have been changed.