Education is a human right and an essential tool for achieving the goals of equality, development and peace. Non-discriminatory education benefits both girls and boys and thus ultimately contributes to more equal relationships between women and men. Equality of access to and attainment of educational qualifications is necessary if more women are to become agents of change.

Recognizing education as a human right that is often curtailed for, or even denied to, women in much of the world, the Beijing Platform for Action urges governments and private organizations to act on the following goals:

• Ensuring equal access to education;
• Eradicating illiteracy among women;
• Improving women’s access to vocational training, science and technology, and to continuing education;
• Developing non-discriminatory education and training;
• Allocating enough resources for, and monitoring the implementation of, educational reforms;
• Promoting lifelong education and training for girls and women.

Despite progress in this area, girls still face discrimination because of ingrained cultural attitudes, early marriages, pregnancies, lack of accessible schools, and inadequate and gender-biased educational materials. Girls continue to be denied quality education in science and technology.

Two thirds of the 960 million illiterate adults in the world are women. The relationship between women's education and child survival is dramatic. In Kenya, for example, 10.9 per cent of children born to women with no education will die by age five, compared to 7.2 per cent of the children of women with primary school education, and 6.4 per cent of the children of women with a secondary school education.

Keeping Girls in School

In 96 countries around the world, UNFPA supports educational activities for youth in and out of school. The Fund also provides counselling and other services for youth in another 30 countries. These activities include information, education and communication programmes and family life education. UNFPA country programmes also develop training materials to raise the awareness of the status of women and their contributions to the family and society.

In Botswana, a UNFPA programme has tackled the problem of teenage pregnancy by helping young mothers to continue their education and by training them as peer counsellors for other girl students. More than 200 peer counsellors have reached about 5,000 students in weekly meetings where they discuss problems related to their reproductive and sexual health. Teenage pregnancies in these schools have dropped significantly.

UNFPA supports a similar programme in Jamaica, run by the Women's Centre of Jamaica Foundation. Over 10,300 pregnant teens were given vocational training, counselling and referrals to institutions such as the Family Court, training institutes, or medical practitioners, primarily to help them continue their education or find gainful employment. More than 6,500 returned to school, and over 2,500 acquired technical skills. In addition, more than 3,000 were referred to training institutes. Most are presently working and still have only one child; former drop-outs have returned to school; and almost all have opted for contraception after the birth of their babies.