Improving access of girls to basic education

Encouraging and supporting girls to continue their education as much as their capabilities and talents may permit, including specialization and in occupational areas which not customary for females.

Countries in cooperation, where appropriate, with national, regional or international organizations, should ensure that essential human resources exist, or be developed, to undertake the integration of environment and development at various stages of the decision-making and implementation process. To do this, they should improve education and technical training in curricula suited to country specific conditions. This is particularly needed for young women and girls, who without any education tend to marry at 17; with secondary education they marry well beyond the age of 21. Since there is a direct correlation between the education level girls and women receive and the amount of babies they produce, their education in the face of rapid population growth is urgently required. The discrepancies between boys and girls in primary schooling mean that 14 million more girls than boys are out of school.

This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities. Agenda 21 recommends measures to promote the goal of universal access to primary and secondary education for girl children and for women. It stresses such improvements with respect to integrating women's contributions to achieve environment and development goals.

As of 1994, a world average of 68% of girls reach grade 5 of primary school. Percentage of girls reaching grade 5 of primary school at the regional or group level: Sub-Saharan Africa (40%); Middle East and North Africa (79%); South Asia (53%); East Asia and Pacific (83%); Central America and Caribbean (68%); South America (51%); Industrialized countries (95%). Countries with a notably high attendance of girls to at least grade 5 of primary school compared to countries in the region include inter alia: Zimbabwe (93%); Mauritius (91%); Botswana (86%); Turkey (97%); Oman (93%); algeria and Syria (92%); Sri Lanka (95%); Hong Kong (99%); Singapore (98 countries); Jamaica (99%); Cuba (91%); Uruguay (96%); Venezuela (90%); Chile (86%).