Transforming education for girls in Tanzania and Nigeria: Cross country analysis of endline research studies

This cross country summary of the findings from the endline study conducted for the TEGINT project highlights a number of issues of particular pertinence to the community of policy makers, practitioners, and researchers concerned with gender equality, rights and girls’ education. Firstly, the considerable expansion of education provision at primary and junior secondary levels enhances girls’ enrolment, attendance, progression, attainment and empowerment. However, there are regional and locational differences, and the effects of the emergence of private schools on gender equality and girls’ empowerment merits careful scrutiny. It is a matter of concern, that despite the introduction of free primary education, schools continue to charge levies and that the costs of improving education are being passed down to the poorest. Secondly, there are clear indications that girls’ clubs give an important space for girls to learn about their rights and confidence to articulate solutions to their problems. This is the case both when girls in clubs come from higher performing girls in terms of class position and more marginalised girls. Thus girls clubs, widely used in many projects throughout Africa, but not till now well evaluated, appear an important strategy to continue to support. Thirdly, rurality appears as a particular condition of marginalisation, associated with higher levels of gender inequality. This is evident from the lower levels of girls’ empowerment in rural schools, and differences in articulating solutions. Thus particularly engaged interventions are needed with girls in remote areas to support empowerment. Fourthly, while improving teacher qualifications and engagement with gender equality is a necessary condition for enhancing education rights for all children, this is not a standalone intervention, and needs to be supported by other initiatives, possibly associated with teachers’ pay, work conditions and status. Fifthly, an intervention like TEGINT, appears particularly useful in helping to break the silence around gender based violence, however, such an intervention cannot be seen in isolation from work on other aspects of gender inequalities, poverty, and limited social provision. In a country like Tanzania, where there is more legislation and political action around gender equality than in Nigeria, girls, even the poorest, appear more knowledgeable about rights. Gender equality and girls’ education cannot thus be separated from other initiatives on rights, social development and addressing injustice.

Num Pages: 18 Publication Title: ActionAid