Friendly Schools for Egypt’s Girls

Girls in Egypt were often excluded from education, especially in remote areas. The reasons are numerous: tuition fees, long walking distances to school and cultural factors. To resolve this issue, the Egyptian government, in cooperation with the European Union, constructed the so-called “Girl Friendly” schools that provide girls aged 6-13 with a formal primary education.

Amina Khairy - Cairo, Al-Hayat

A wall, a room, a bathroom, a piece of paper, a pen, a book, and a woman fully aware of what it is to be a girl child who grew up in a rural Egyptian village... All these requirements seem simple at first blush, yet primitive. But in fact, they are often unavailable. Because finding someone who would be interested in providing such necessities is not that easy.

Did we enter the third millennium? Indeed, and with a lot of confidence. Why not? It’s the century of scientific imagination and information technologies. It is also the century that witnessed a rise in the education rate for women. Finally, the gap between women and men is to be evanescing in 2014. The average of reading and writing for youth in the 15-24 age bracket increased to 80.1% in 2005. In addition, the ratio of girls to boys in elementary schools reached 93%, according to the 2008 Human Development Report in Egypt. However, 14.7% of children in the 6-15 age bracket, for the most part girls, have no access to basic education, owing to poverty or to the absence of a school.

“It was even impossible to think of enrolling in school. The nearest one was at a distance of one hour and a half, especially that in the winter night falls early” (Sabah, 11 years old, from Abu Karkas village, Al-Minya, Said, Egypt).

“We had no bathroom is our school. When one of us needed to use the toilet, she had to go back home or to knock on the neighbors’ doors” (Marwa, 10 years old, from Al-Joumhourya village, Al-Fiyoum, South-West of Egypt).

These are stories among thousands that turned into successful cases copied by countries in the East and the South of the planet. In 2003, the province of Al-Fayoum (known to be the poorest province and to have the higher unemployment rate) witnessed the opening of the first “Girl Friendly” school, a structure equipped with a wall, a bathroom, a roof and a woman teacher who is very understanding of the students’ social and economic situation: all of them had to quit school in the past years. More than 1100 other schools all over Egypt were built subsequently, most of which were located in the South (Said).

“Children at Risk”
In Abu Karkas, in Al-Minya province, a delegation of European ambassadors headed by Klaus Iberman, ambassador of the Delegation of the European Commission in Cairo, visited a “Girl Friendly” school financed through the €20 million EU-funded “Children at Risk” Program. Even though the EU neither interfere with the essence of the education programs nor with the teaching process, Klaus Iberman did not prevent himself from expressing his high opinion of the educational methods these girls are using; instead of mechanically repeating the lessons, their approach is rather based on debating issues, socializing and interacting with the instructor.

According to the statistics made by the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood - which is implementing the project in coordination with international organizations and civil associations-, the rate of school dropout is zero, as the provided atmosphere is effectively, and not theoretically, “friendly to girls”.

The aim of the project was to build 1,047 “Girl Friendly” schools. Much more have so far been established. Boys are welcomed, but their number should not exceed 25 percent of classroom capacity.
 

The €20 million “Children at Risk” program was initiated in May 2004, aiming specifically at assisting street, disabled and working children as well as educating girls.

N.B: Text translated from Arabic by Eurojar team