Academy for Educational Development

‘KEEPING THE PROMISE’ TO EDUCATE GIRLS CREATES HEALTHIER COUNTRIES

New AED Book Shows Five Benefits of Girls’ Secondary Education

Washington, D.C., January 29, 2007 —Oprah Winfrey’s new school in South Africa will eventually enable 450 girls to go beyond the sixth grade and get a secondary school diploma. But these are the lucky.

Fewer than one in five girls in all of sub-Saharan Africa complete secondary school, and there are millions more girls worldwide who will never move beyond primary school.

A new book published by AED, Keeping the Promise: Five Benefits of Girls’ Secondary Education, clearly and succinctly presents data and analysis on the importance of educating girls in developing countries. It also illustrates the impact educating girls has on the day-to-day lives of real families the writer has met through her more than 30 years of experience in the field.

According to the book’s author, May Rihani, senior vice president and director of the AED Global Learning Group, there are five main social and economic benefits that society will reap as a result of educating girls at the secondary level.

• The presence of more secondary schools will increase primary enrollment and completion and improve overall education quality.
• Education beyond primary school results in an increase in civic participation and lower rates of youth violence and human trafficking.
• Health benefits from educating girls are immense, including significant decreases in infant mortality, lower teen birthrates, smaller families, and higher immunization rates and improved nutrition for children.
• Rates of HIV and AIDS decrease when girls are educated.
• Poverty is reduced as educated girls command higher wages and increase agricultural productivity.

“Countries can’t move forward economically if girls don’t receive an education,” said Rihani, a leading expert on girls’ education who has developed successful programs in 14 countries in Africa and the Middle East. “But you have to educate at least 35% of girls at the secondary level to expect serious political, economic and social change to happen.”

The impact of AIDS on girls’ education is a major theme of Keeping the Promise.

Noting that many girls are forced to sacrifice their education as a result of the challenges posed by AIDS, Rihani cites a 72-country analysis that found that in countries where the literacy gap between boys and girls exceeds 25%, HIV prevalence exceeds 5%—the threshold breakout level.

“Teaching girls about HIV/AIDS in the classroom at an age when they are most vulnerable is one of the most effective tools for stemming the spread of the disease,” Rihani added.

Keeping the Promise aims to spur action to address the factors that hinder girls’ enrollment and success in secondary school throughout the developing world.

“We know that girls’ secondary education offers a multitude of benefits to societies,” said Rihani. “It’s like dropping a pebble in a pond and seeing the ripples.”

AED, the Academy for Educational Development, (www.aed.org) is a nonprofit organization working in all the major areas of human development with a focus on improving education, health, and economic opportunities for the least advantaged in the United States and developing countries throughout the world.

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