Intervention needed to ensure girls attend – and finish – school

SANITATION and access to hygiene products, teen pregnancies and sexual assault are but a few of the barriers to education for girls, say researchers at the Legal Resources Centre.

- ZELDA VENTER

As part of Human Rights Month, the centre has shone the spotlight on the difficulties that girls face in the school environment and in accessing education.

Researchers Amy-Leigh Payne, Charlene Kreuser, and Muyega Mugerwa-Sekwabe found that there have been important developments in addressing the barriers to education for girls in South Africa.

The Girls’ Education Movement has, for example, worked at a grassroots level to promote equal access to education for girls, enhancing the quality of education in rural areas, building safer schools, reducing violence against girls, and providing gender-responsive school material.

However, the researchers said, despite contributions from public interest organisations and increasing promises and interventions from the Department of Basic Education, girls still face significant barriers in access to education.