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Gender equity our goal
Papua New Guinea is making good progress towards achieving the goal of gender equity in education ... NRI researcher Dr Arnold Kukari reports on the progress. By Dr ARNOLD KUKARI Universal Primary Education (Universal Basic Education (UBE), is another goal that GoPNG has committed itself to achieving as well. The pursuance of the goal of UBE should also include the goal of gender equity in education. The processes and strategies for achieving these two goals must be planned and executed simultaneously, and in an integrated and holistic way. There are a variety of strategies that can be employed to work towards attaining the goal of UBE and, at the same time, attaining the goal of gender equity in education. Where are we?A good measure of Papua New Guinea’s progress towards the attainment of the goals of UBE and gender equity in education is the Net Enrolment Rate (NER). NER measures the number of children in a given education cycle as a proportion of the population of related school age. In calculating the NER the ages of the children to be counted are specified. The current NER for elementary prep to grade 8 is 53 per cent. This means that 53 per cent of the children in the population of related school age (6-14 years) are enrolled in basic education while 47 per cent of the same population is not in school. The goal of UBE is achieved when all children in the population of school related age are enrolled in school. In this case, the 47 per cent of children not in school right now must be enrolled in order for Papua New Guinea to achieve the target of 100 per cent UBE. However, it has been continuously claimed that Papua New Guinea does not have the fiscal, administrative, and implementation capacity to achieve this target. In terms of gender, the male and female NER are 54 per cent and 51 per cent. Where do we want to be?Papau New Guinea has set itself the target of 70 per cent UBE to be achieved by 2012 and the target of 100 per cent UBE to be achieved by 2018. This means that in the next three years enrolment of children in the population of related school age will be increased by an additional 17 per cent by 2012 and a further increase of 30 per cent by 2018. It is hoped that by 2018 all children in the population of school related age (6-14 years) will be in school.
The male and female NER will have to be increased simultaneously with the total NER. In order to determine the actual access and participation ratios, the actual population of girls and boys in the population of school related age should be ascertained. There are a lot of impediments to increasing girls’ access to, and participation in, basic education compared to boys. Therefore, measures targeting the increased enrolment of girls in the next nine years must be devised and put in place. Without these measures, the goal of gender equity in education will not be achieved. How to get there?National admission and enrolment data tends to mask the realities of different localities in terms of their own individual progress towards the global and national goals of UBE and gender equality in education, particularly the improvement of education chances for girls. Some provinces, districts, and local-level government areas are making very good progress towards the attainment of these goals while others are lagging behind. Those localities making good progress towards the attainment of the goals of UBE and gender equity in education have devised and implemented effective strategies that not only target infrastructure, school environment and organisational climates, security, teacher and student relationships, and community support, but also the beliefs and attitudes of their people, especially their perceptions and treatment of girls. Well tailored and targeted education awareness programs can have a profound impact on the beliefs and attitudes of communities and parents toward the education of their children. Parents will become aware of the democratic principles of justice and fairness in terms of the boy and girl child’s access to, and participation in, schooling, and hence, ensure that both children’s education is supported in terms of school fee payments and providing an environment conducive for learning. Awareness programs targeting parents’ and communities’ beliefs, and the different treatment of boys and girls have seen parents and communities breaking the shackles of cultural beliefs that have shaped their actions and treatment of girls in the cultural context and, thereby, increasing their level of support and engagement in their daughters’ education. These strategies have contributed towards the increased enrolment of girls in the population of school related age for basic education and, thereby, enabling provinces, districts, and local-level governments to work progressively towards the full attainment of the goal of gender equity in education. Much remains to be done at the national, provincial, district, and local-level government levels to progressively work towards the full attainment of the national and global targets for UBE and gender equity in education. There are enormous challenges in the pathway towards the achievement of these goals. These will need intelligent, innovative, and comprehensive multi-stakeholder policy interventions to effectively mitigate in order that education opportunities are provided for all school age children.
Dr ARNOLD KUKARI is the acting head of the education studies division at the National Research Institute
This article was published with permission from National Research Institute of Papua New Guinea. NRI website can be accessed at www.nri.org.pg
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