Girls in Nepal face multiple obstacles to attend school

ByLaxman Datt Pant

Girls in Nepal face multiple obstacles to attend school

Although Nepal’s constitution guarantees equal rights to education, stating that every child has the right to education and no child should be subject to marriage, nevertheless girls face multiple obstacles to attend schools. As they reach higher grades, they are forced to drop out of school and subjected to marriage at an early age. This is mainly because the specific needs of girls are not considered within education systems and plans but also because parents are not alert to the need to educate their daughters while others cannot afford it. The Nepal Living Standards Survey (2011) revealed that Nepal has a literacy rate of 56.6% and there exists a vast difference between males and females with the male literacy rate standing at 71.6% while for females, it is 44.5%.

Meanwhile, in the last three months, over 12 adolescent girls between the ages of 14-18 in the districts of Banke, Bardia, and Tanahun have married and fled, mainly due to the financial crisis and various types of domestic violence. This scenario could represent the end of education for many young girls as the result of dropping out of school increases the risk of marriage at an early age, gender-based violence, sex trafficking, and pressure to contribute to family income or to serve as caregivers.

With the aim of transforming the lives of children by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education, ‘Room to Read’, supports girls to complete secondary school education to attain the relevant life skills needed to succeed in school and beyond. Room to Read staff are available to ensure that girls are provided with individual mentoring by phone. Trained, local mentors use these mentoring sessions to emotionally support girls through the current crisis and encourage them to continue their studies amid the pandemic. Literacy and Girls’ Education Programs today reach across Nepal and remain catalyst for change to transform the lives of children. These programs are continued even during the current crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Parents residing in the low-income communities of Nepal have little or no access to internet facilities and the majority cannot afford mobile data packages, let alone take advantage of online classes. Realizing this, Room to Read utilizes easily accessible media channels, for example, radios and telephones. The radio program, ‘Balika Shiksha’ (Girl Child Education), has been a lifeline for thousands of girls who continue to develop the vital and enduring life skills that will help them to protect their futures.

Similarly, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) are reaching out to secondary school level students in rural areas via radio education programs for those who do not have access to the internet and television. Such programs are aired through seventy community radio stations across the country with the program using materials developed by the MoEST and the Centre for Education and Human Resource Development (CEHRD).

It is interesting to note that a study by UNICEF issued in January 2020 revealed that at least one in three adolescent girls in eight low-income countries including Nepal had never attended school. The report also stated that, in Nepal, children from the poorest quintile of households benefit from 18% of public education resources.

In many low-income communities of Nepal, parents depend on daily wages which have been disrupted due to the lockdown to minimize the effect of COVID-19. When parents are under crisis because of limited income and resources they are likely to deprioritize girls from learning; be it staying back at home and taking care of younger siblings or early marriage, said Salina Tamang, Girls’ Education Program Manager at Room to Read.

Girls’ education goes beyond simply getting girls to attend school, it is essential that all girls learn the life skills that not only help them to stay in school but also support them to communicate with confidence, persevere through obstacles and advocate for themselves to forge their own paths, she advised.

To minimize the drop out of girls from schools in Nepal, Balaram Timalsina, Chief of the Education Unit at UNESCO, has advised that teachers need to be trained in gender-responsive education to ensure the equal and effective participation of girls and boys. Commenting that sometimes teachers and textbooks reinforce the idea that girls are less intelligent than boys and portray girls and women as household workers and caregivers, he added that teachers trained to counteract these stereotypes can help girls to discover the opportunities that education creates for them.

With the aim of increasing access for vulnerable and out-of-school adolescent girls and developing the capacity of key actors to provide mainstream comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) and address gender-based violence (GBV) through policies, curriculum and training, UNESCO, in collaboration with UNFPA, UN Women and the MoEST, is implementing a project ‘Empowering Adolescent Girls and Young Women through the Provision of Comprehensive Sexuality Education and a Safe Learning Environment in Nepal.’

The School Sector Development Plan (2016/17-2022/23) of Nepal aims to address gender-based violence in schools and to reduce girls’ involvement in home-based errands and labor in order to increase their participation in, and completion of, basic education. However, many schools across the country are underfunded and overcrowded with no gender-friendly infrastructures and resources. Nearly half of adults in Nepal are illiterate and 39.6% of students drop out of school before completing primary education. In rural areas of Nepal, girls hesitate to go to school during menstruation because they do not have access to facilities including sanitary pads, separate toilets, and running water. In addition, very little has been done to accelerate awareness-raising programs regarding the prevention of child marriage and childbearing.