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REITERATING THE OBVIOUS - EDUCATION IS A HUMAN SECURITY ISSUE
The global efforts over the years for universal education narrowed the
gender gap in primary school in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. However,
the persistence of the reasons mentioned above hindered further progress. The
COVID-19 pandemic obliterated recent progress.
EFFECTS OF NON-SCHOOLING
From the World Bank’s World Development Indicators, two-thirds of girls
complete their primary education in low-income countries, and only one in three
completes lower secondary education.’ While access to primary education is
crucial and provides a foundational basis for life, compelling evidence suggests
that “completing secondary education is associated with greater economic, social
and political benefits than primary education alone.”'?
Various studies suggest that secondary education has “a positive effect
on cognitive skills, which in turn correlate strongly with increased wages
and GDP growth, poverty reduction, and reduced fertility and population
growth.”'*Secondary education returns have been demonstrated for low-and
middle-income countries, with women experiencing higher returns than men,
reinforcing that the education of adolescent girls remains a priority.”
The impacts of low educational attainment have significant consequences on
a girl’s life trajectory, including:
1. impacts to earnings and standards of living;’®
2. child marriages and early childbearing;’®
3. fertility and population growth;””
4. impacts the health, nutrition, and well-being of girls and women; "*
1 Quentin Wodon et al., Missed Opportunities: the high Cost of Not Educating Girls, World
Bank, 2018, 7, https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/29956/
HighCostOfNotEducatingGirls.pdf?sequence=6&isAllowed=y.
2 UNICEF, Secondary Education Guidance: Multiple and flexible Pathways, UNICEF,
October 2020, 1, https://www.unicef.org/reports/secondary-education-guidance-multiple¬
flexible-pathways-2020.
Psacharopoulos, G. — Patrinos, H. A, Returns to Investment in Education: A decennial
review of the global literature, World Bank, 2018.
4 UNICEF, Secondary Education Guidance, 1.
155 Quentin Wodon et al., Missed Opportunities, 12-20.
1° Quentin Wodon et al., Missed Opportunities, 21-23.
7 Quentin Wodon et al., Missed Opportunities, 24-29.
13 Quentin Wodon et al., Missed Opportunities, 30-37.
+ 303 *