Work that remains to be done

South Asia has made great strides in getting girls to schools in recent years. But digging into statistics can reveal huge disparities that grow at the secondary school level. 

As families are torn apart and impoverished by conflict, children's education suffers. Hard-up families are more likely to send children onto the streets to sell flowers or cigarettes, or have boys labouring on building sites and farms. Girls are being married off young in the hopes of economic security. More boys are being recruited into fighting, manning checkpoints, carrying weapons, and even militancy. It's important to focus on girls, but it's equally important to focus on boys, too. Some refugee parents prefer to marry off their daughters than send them to school, which leaves them less in control of their lives and more likely to be poor and sick. For parents, there's an added layer of fear around girls' honour stemming from the threat of sexual harassment at school. 

For every year that a girl spends in school, her future earnings can grow by as much as 25 percent, making a valuable contribution to the economy. They are also less likely to marry young and die in childbirth. 

62 million girls are out of schools around the world today. Cultural misogyny, inequality, and institutional discrimination are killing girls' rights every single day. To address these issues, we need more international-standard schools and universities which will be accessible to girls from all backgrounds. 

Mohammad Rajja
Birgunj, Nepal