GEFF – Quality Education Pledge

By The Girls Education First Staff

The Girls Education First Foundation is launching the “Quality Education Pledge” Campaign to help raise awareness about the barriers preventing girls from accessing a fair and quality education.

This pledge is also an opportunity to encourage conversation among youth to help unlock progress in gender equality more broadly, which will benefit not only women and girls but also all of society.  

 Our first goal is to bring greater awareness to the barriers preventing girls’ access to effective learning materials and a safe school environment. We want to start a larger dialogue about the way that girls are often left out of education for a variety of reasons.

In many regions around the world, issues of poverty, conflict, gender-based violence, menstruation, disability, and entrenched social and gender norms intersect with educational attainment, which creates distinct disadvantages for girls. 

For instance, pedagogy in Sub-Saharan Africa, as in other parts of the world, is often based on gender awareness. Teachers and education support staff may not have sufficient or appropriate training, nor the resources and support needed to actively transform gender norms in school settings. Thus, relying on teaching and learning materials can reinforce negative gender stereotypes.  

The lack of a safe, fair, and quality education for young girls around the world, has a profound impact on  low socioeconomic communities.  In addition, many developing nations follow a patriarchal system, which  devalues women and does not promote girls’ access to education. Consequently, at the age of 10 or 12, young girls are often married off or forced into manual labor. 

While child marriage and early pregnancy remain persistent barriers to girls’ education in Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions around the world, research suggests that the age of marriage is rising throughout the regions. Moreover, the year 2020 has seen a wave of countries overturning bans on pregnant girls attending school. This sets a new precedent for transforming the social and cultural norms that still often curtail girls’ education after marriage and pregnancy. It is a moral obligation for us all to take a stand, promote women’s rights, and fight against these barriers that are constantly preventing disadvantaged girls from accessing quality education.

Girls Around the World Deserve a Safe and Quality Education

While this problem affects children around the world, girls are disproportionately impacted. Statistically, girls are less likely to receive schooling and when they can, they are less likely to do so in clean and safe schools.

This pledge also falls in line with the United Nations’ goals of Quality Education and Gender Equality. And the decision to make the bracelets out of recycled plastic is to help promote a more environmentally friendly world.

Raising Awareness For Education Everywhere

At Girls Education First Foundation, we strongly believe that education is the best path to social and economic mobility. We are working toward ending child labor so girls can live independently in a world that offers better possibilities. We are committed to supporting a wide array of initiatives that will stop child labor and promote safe, fair, and quality education for underserved girls. We want to help girls around the world, especially those in low-income communities. To live up to that mission, we are collaborating globally with other grassroots organizations and academic institutions to expand our reach and efficiently work with accurate and up-to-date data. Girls around the world need your help and support. Please consider making a donation on our website. Ninety percent (90%) of every dollar goes directly to helping underserved our girls.