What Are Some Reasons Why Girl Child Education Is Important?
Education is critical to everyone—boys and girls. However, in many cultures, girls’ access to education is lacking. This is true in the region of South Asia. UNICEF reports, “Of the region’s out-of-school girls, 81 percent are unlikely to ever start school, compared to 42 percent of out-of-school boys.”1
There are many reasons why girl child education is important in developing countries. Here are some of those reasons:
• Education is essential to breaking the cycle of poverty.
A GFA World special report said,
“Worldwide, entire villages with increasing levels of literacy are making social and economic gains when even just a small percentage of the villagers learn to read and write. Much data … gives good cause to make the assumption that learning to read and write is one of the ‘great miracle cures.’”2 This means that when a girl who has been educated grows up and has a family of her own, she will have access to more income to meet the needs of her family.
• Girls who are educated typically marry later and are less likely to participate in child labor.3
• Educated girls are healthier and have healthier children.
“A child born to a mother who can read is 50 percent more likely to survive past age 5. Each extra year of a mother’s schooling reduces the probability of infant mortality by 5 percent to 10 percent.”4
GFA World is committed to helping girls and women have literacy skills and find their full potential. Girls are helped through GFA World’s Child Sponsorship Program, which provides resources to relieve the financial pressures of families, allowing them to keep their children in school. These resources may include school supplies, tutoring, access to clean water, health check-ups, nutritious meals and other supplies.
Women’s literacy classes offer life-changing training. When women learn to read, they are qualified for more jobs and income-generating opportunities to help provide for their families. Literacy allows women to read signs, contracts, warning labels and more. In GFA’s literacy classes, women also learn basic math skills, which help them be treated fairly at the market.
Please consider joining us in this mission to help girls and women reach their full potential!
Learn more about gender inequality in school1 “Global Gender Gap Report 2021.” World Economic Forum. March 2021. https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/Education%20Inequality%2029012018.pdf&clen=1093221&chunk=true.
2 Mains, Karen Burton. “Literacy: One of the Great Miracle Cures.” GFA World. 3 September 2019. https://www.gfa.org/special-report/literacy-miracle-cure-illiteracy/.
3 Livingston, Gretchen. “For Most Highly Educated Women, Motherhood Doesn’t Start Until the 30s.” Pew Research Center. 15 January 2015. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/01/15/for-most-highly-educated-women-motherhood-doesnt-start-until-the-30s/.
4 “Education Counts.” UNESCO. 2011. http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/ED/pdf/gmr-ec-4-50.pdf.