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International Day of the Girl Child




The International Day of the Girl Child is a United Nations day celebrated annually on 11 October.

The International Day of the Girl Child raises public awareness of the different types of challenges and difficulties experienced by many girls around the world. The UN declared the day in December 2011, starting from 2012.

The term ‘girl child’ defines girls aged between 0-18 years. It cuts across every ethnicity, class, nationality, family environment, sexual orientation, and occupation for consideration at the design and policy stages of government regulations and social frameworks.

For example, about 62 million girls globally are not in school. Across the world, continuous progress towards gender parity in education has resulted in many improvements. However, only 59 out of 176 countries have achieved gender parity in both primary and secondary education. The UN estimates that an additional 18 million primary school teachers are needed by 2018 to teach the number of additional girls expected to attend school over the next two years. With the lack of teachers, often the teacher to pupil rate is high, with 40 or more children in classes.

Currently, I am in Kenya. Kenya’s government observes Education for All (EFA) to include boys and girls, and is inclusive of all marginalised children. Kenyan leaders have regulations in place to address poverty, disease, discrimination, and illiteracy. Kenya has achieved a high literacy rate for both boys and girls. But there are still improvements to be made, especially in rural areas, where electricity may be infrequent, making it difficult for boys and girls to study at night or to use computers – and often too in urban areas. Many schools are piloting tablets and computer technologies in rural areas, although this is mainly confined to school time – and for security reasons, computers and e-readers are kept at school, so there is little use of technologies after school and on weekends.

Teaching methodologies are continuously evolving with new regulations, reforms, and innovative technologies, and therefore quality teaching and learning always represent challenges for education systems. So while access to education is still an issue in many countries, the wider issue is quality education for all.


MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).


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