10 Toughest Places in the World for Girls to Go to School

Giving Compass’ Take:

• Sean Coughlan reports that the following 10 countries are the most difficult places for girls to go to school because of a combination of factors including conflict, cultural norms, child marriage, and teachers shortages.

• What are the most impactful steps that philanthropists can take to increase the number of girls attending school in these places? How can cultural barriers be eroded to allow girls to access education? 

• Find out why education aid for girls in Afghanistan never made it the intended recipients.

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Debates about schools in richer countries are often about the politics of priorities, what subjects should be given most importance, who needs extra help and what needs more public spending.

But for families in many developing countries questions about education can be a lot more basic – is there any access to school at all?

Figures from the United Nations suggest there has been “almost zero progress” in the past decade in tackling the lack of school places in some of the world’s poorest countries.

Here are the top 10 toughest places for girls’ education:

1. South Sudan: the world’s newest country has faced much violence and war, with the destruction of schools and families forced from their homes. Almost three-quarters of girls do not even make it to primary school
2. Central African Republic: one teacher for every 80 pupils
3. Niger: only 17% of women between the ages of 15 and 24 are literate
4. Afghanistan: wide gender gap, with boys more likely to be in school than girls
5. Chad: many social and economic barriers to girls and women getting education
6. Mali: only 38% of girls finish primary school
7. Guinea: the average time in education among women over the age of 25 is less than one year
8. Burkina Faso: only 1% of girls complete secondary school
9. Liberia: almost two-thirds of primary-age pupils out of school
10. Ethiopia: two in five girls are married before the age of 18

Read more about education in these conflict zones by Sean Coughlan at BBC.