Providing education to girls from remote and rural areas - UNESCO ...

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○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○Providing Education to Girlsfrom Remote and Rural AreasThe Dakar Framework for Action calls on the worldcommunity to find appropriate strategies foreducating underserved groups and those childrenwho live under difficult circumstances. To achieve thisEFA goal, one approach that countries mightconsider is the use of boarding schools. This policybrief documents how boarding schools have beenused in order to ensure access to education forchildren who might otherwise be deprived of it. Thebrief discusses both advantages and disadvantagesof this educational strategy. Finally, it provides usefulhints for maximizing the effectiveness of the boardingschool approach.Concept of Boarding SchoolsBoarding schools, also referred to as residentialschools or feeder hostels, are educational institutionswith dormitory facilities where students may live orboard during the school year. The dormitories havesleeping, lavatory, eating, study and recreationalareas. There is often accommodation for teachingand support staff. Schools can be integrated orsegregated. They can be for a particular ethnic orminority group, open to students in a specified area,or for those with unique qualifications andcharacteristics. Dormitory facilities may be separatedby sex, age, or even familial relationship when familiessend more than one child. Dormitories most often arelocated on the school campus.A distinction should be made here between privatelyestablished, financed and managed boarding schoolsthat cater to the children of more affluent families andthose that are established, financed and managedthrough public means to serve underserved groupsand children living under difficult circumstances. Inmany parts of the world, the term “boarding school”refers to private schools that collect fees from parentsand are independently governed and managed, offera curriculum that is different from the nationalcurriculum, provide residential facilities to children andare not subject to government rules and standards.Boarding schools in this policy brief, however, aredefined to include institutions supported by the statethat are created specifically for the purpose ofproviding both academic programmes and housing forchildren. Particular attention under such a scheme isoften given to those groups who otherwise may nothave access to school at all: girls, those coming fromrural and remote areas, and those living in difficultcircumstances.Experiences and PracticesChildren of remote and rural – usually minority –populations in Nepal, China and Viet Nam, as well asnomadic children in Mongolia and Central Asia, havebenefited from education in boarding schools. Someboarding schools, such as those for the Khmer in VietNam, have been initiated by leaders of ethnicminorities in order to enhance their children’seducational foundation through schools that bothstrengthen ties with the majority culture and maintaintheir own. Some countries in Central Asia, during theirsocialist years, were able to achieve near universalbasic education due, in part, to boarding schools.Remote rural populations in those countries not onlyaccept, but expect, boarding facilities to supportbasic education.Many African countries have a long boarding schooltradition, particularly at the secondary level. Thispractice dates back to the colonial period. Today,there are still boarding schools in parts of EnglishspeakingAfrica that are modeled on the Britishexperience. Indeed, in many ways, little has changedsince those days: The distance from villagecommunities to secondary schools continues tomake secondary education inaccessible to manychildren. As a result, many children drop out of schoolafter the primary level. In this context, boardingschools play a key role in providing secondaryeducation. Furthermore, in a number of Africancountries, student meals are government subsidizedso that it may cost less for parents to have theirchildren fed a comparable diet in boarding schoolsthan at home. In Ghana, boarding schools comprisesome 80 percent of all schools. In fact, some parentsbelieve that schools do a better job of bringing upPolicy Brief on Providing Education to Girls from Remote and Rural Areas1○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○○
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○children than they can. However, in recent years,there has been a tendency in Africa to discontinueboarding schools due to governmental fiscal “belttightening.”Nonetheless, many educators advocatethem as a necessary investment for EFA.AdvantagesWhen managed and operated properly, boardingschools can yield benefits for students, parents andeducators. Some of these are discussed below:Promote access to schooling. The primary goal ofstate boarding schools is to increase access tolearning opportunities of children from underservedand disadvantaged communities. Boarding facilities,for example, make schooling for many rural childrenpossible.Attain gender equality in enrollment, retention andachievement. A study in Nepal showed that feederhostels for girls promoted girls’ enrolment, retentionand achievement in education. Feeder hostels bringgirls from remote and rural areas of the country,where opportunity for obtaining secondary educationdoes not exist. These hostels provide food andaccommodation and, most importantly, anopportunity to attend a secondary school. Uponcompletion of their schooling, the girls areencouraged to take up teaching, thereby becomingimportant role models for the girls who follow. TamilNadu in India and the Central Highland provinces ofViet Nam are advocating more hostel facilities for girlsto increase enrolment and retention in secondaryschool. In 2000, a regional consultation for Ministersof Education in Nairobi agreed that boarding schoolsfor girls were important in achieving EFA goals.In some cultures, parents are reluctant to send theirchildren, especially girls, to school. In many countries,parents of poor and large families require children’slabour for food production and for care of youngersiblings. Despite state subsidies, there are generallycosts attached to sending children to school thatparents often cannot meet. In such cases, boardingschools may provide a reasonable transitionalarrangement. For example, in Sa Pa, Viet Nam,scholarships for girls enable them to attend boardingschools.Provide improved learning environments tochildren. Boarding schools can be a choice formany families that cannot offer adequate facilities forstudy. Where homes are overcrowded and do nothave electricity, boarding schools can offer a betterstudy environment.Enhance academic performance of children,especially girls. Boarding schools are believed tohelp enhance academic performance of children.Malawi research claims that boarding schoolsenhance girls’ academic performance since they donot have to spend time going long distances toschools and are not burdened by domestic chores athome. Boarding schools in eastern and southernAfrica are generally same-sex schools, and it hasbeen shown that academic performance among girlsis higher than in co-educational schools.Give security and protection to girls. In societieswhere girls’ movement outside home is notpermitted, boarding schools can give security andprotection. In Mongolia, for instance, rural parentsare more likely to encourage girls than boys tocontinue schooling because they perceive thatboarding schools offer personal protection andeducation that ensures their daughters of future jobs;conversely, boys are perceived to be better able tofend for themselves. Malawi research also tends toconfirm that boarding schools provide security andprotection to girls.Protect children in emergency situations. Boardingschools have been an important protection forchildren at risk of emergencies, such as from naturaldisasters or civil wars. At times, schools can continuetheir operations. Students from flood-, winterdisaster- and other calamity-prone areas have beenensured shelter, food, education and recreationduring the disaster. In Nepal, non-governmentalorganizations (NGOs) are operating hostels to offershelter and education to street children and thosedisplaced by ongoing conflict.Meet nutritional needs of children. Experience fromMongolia and Viet Nam shows that well-managedboarding schools provide good nutrition, hygiene, andsanitation; a balanced daily routine of personal care;education; assistance for the boarding schoolcommunity; sports and recreation; and study habitsthat children introduce to their own homes andfamilies and to their lives as adults. One studyconducted in Mexico reported that children attendingboarding schools were better off in terms of theirnutritional status compared to those who were not inboarding schools.Promote socialization and mainstreaming of poorand minority children. Boarding schools can be ameans of socializing and mainstreaming childrencoming from rural and remote areas and thosebelonging to ethnic and linguistic minorities. Childrenare introduced to new ways of living; new routinesand responsibilities; new technologies; and newteachers and fellow students from outside theirPolicy Brief on Providing Education to Girls from Remote and Rural Areas2○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○○
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