Promoting basic education for women and girls ... - library.unesco-ii...

waziland
34
fication equivalent to the Swaziland Primary Certificate
dfication
7), as a gateway to further learning; and (c) an
for children aged 13 and over to rejoin the
education system.
n(grade
nportunity
nopportunity
nmal
nformal
and major lessons
aonclusions
aConclusions
W
enrolment figures show some cause for hope,
it can still not be said that gender balance has been
achieved in basic education in Swaziland.
There seem to be more girls out of school, at all
lahile
lhieved
l
levels, even when the enrolment figures show
that there could be more girls in school.
In percentage terms, girls are performing better
than boys in primary and junior secondary certificate
examinations. A larger proportion of the
girls however tends to withdraw before the final
examination years of high school.
Most girls are still restricted to studying the
‘soft option’ subjects, and this has limited the
access of girls to scientific and technical disciplines
in higher institutions.
Poverty at the household level is still a hindrance
to access to basic education, and girls have
remained the sacrificial lambs in the hard choices
that parents have to make in deciding whether
the boy or girl child should go to school.
The non-formal route (particularly AUPE) is
fee-paying, and therefore portends a potential
obstacle to women from low-income families.
Teenage pregnancy and the spread of HIV/AIDS