What are your memories of being 12 years old? You may be thinking of the joy (or angst) of being in middle school, learning new things and gaining independence. The impactful and concise Girl Effect illuminates why age 12 is the turning point in a girl’s life in the developing world. At this age, girls with a solid primary education – and most critically, the financial means – can continue to secondary school. But for a very large portion of the population, this is the end of their educational career. 70% of the world’s 130 million out-of-school youth are girls. This makes age 12 the dividing line between a life of poverty and a hopeful future.
Consider:
- When a girl in the developing world receives 7 or more years of education, she marries 4 years later and has 2.2 fewer children.
- An extra year of secondary school boosts girls’ eventual wages by 15-25%.
(Source: www.thegirleffect.org)
By staying in school through their teenage years, girls align themselves for future social and health benefits. Educated girls and women are less vulnerable to HIV infection, human trafficking and other forms of exploitation, have children who are more likely to go to school, and make important contributions to family income. There is other compelling data from the Population Council to suggest that the longer a girl stays in school, the better her life will be because she will spend far fewer hours engaged in household labor.
Making it Possible to Stay in School
At BeadforLife, our goal is to empower impoverished Ugandan women with our entrepreneurial training program. But we also think about the girls who will become these women, so we launched a Girls’ Education Program. In the 2011-12 school year, we identified and funded 30 exceptional students who would not otherwise be able to continue with their education. Awino Colline is one of them.
Awino Colline from BeadforLife on Vimeo.
Awino Colline is a bright-eyed, slender 17-year-old girl with a big role to play. As the eldest girl in a family where her father has HIV, the responsibility of the home and garden in the village of Agwing in Otuke District are left to Colline and her mother. Colline has to make sure her five siblings are comfortable and well cared for. She fetches water and collects firewood for cooking. During the planting season, Colline borrows a neighbor’s plough to clear their garden and, in turn, does gardening for him.
Colline’s hard work and determination are not only seen at home. Due to her chores and the long running civil war disturbance in Northern Uganda, she missed some years of school and started secondary school late. However, Colline has made tremendous improvement in her grades and is one of the brightest students in her class at St. Mary’s Magdalene Girl’s School in Lira District. Her goal is to become a nurse, “so I can treat sick people in my village.”
Tags: Africa, Education, Empowering Girls, Empowering Women