Commentary by Edith Ng'oma

In terms of access to education, the situation has greatly improved but the problem now is with retention and completion; girls are able to go to school, but they are not able to stay in school. In terms of the quality of education, improvement is badly needed. We now need to try and ensure everyone gets as far as grade 8 and 9. Not all schools have grade 8 and 9, so some children have to walk long distances. Then they arrive in school tired and cannot concentrate. Sometimes they start renting closer to the school and go home at the weekends to get food and so on but if they run out of food during the week, they must return home and so miss school time. In certain cases, we have schools without proper toilet facilities for girls, so most of the time when they have their periods they would prefer to stay at home. Many, they don't have sanitary towels as these are considered a luxury. So you find that while education may be improving because the Ministry of Education is active, the quality of education is not what it should be. Girls have to sit the same exams and often they are not prepared and so don't turn up for exams. We have examples of classes of more than 40 students where only 5 might come for the exam.

FAWEZA has sensitised communities and formed committees to try to monitor the schools. Students keep a record and mark how many times a teacher comes to class. Some teachers just tell the children to read specific pages and stay in the staff room, so the children are on their own in class. There are still all sorts of problems and issues with schools.

FAWEZA has two major programmes, advocacy and lobbying and interventions designed to increase female participation in education. We have worked on a ‘re-entry policy' which has brought a number of girls back into school after pregnancy; now when a girl gets pregnant, she is allowed to go on leave and come back about 6 months after delivery – this is major breakthrough. We are also working on the issue of preventing, managing and eliminating violence against children in schools. We also have scholarship schemes where we support girls and boys in basic schools, high schools and as well as tertiary level. We do not support students up to grade 7 because this is supposed to be free although uniforms etc. still need to be bought. We are supporting 70% girls and 30% boys in the scholarships programme.

The other programme is focused on SMT interventions – Science, Maths and Technology. In the past it was believed that tough subjects such as these were for boys only, and girls were not allowed to take them. We have introduced a competition where the best 4 students of each province are brought to Lusaka for a quiz. This encourages the girls to participate in these subjects. In this current year the overall national winner was a girl and in the teacher's competition (which looks at methodologies for teaching these subjects), a female teacher was also the national winner.

In the past it was believed that tough subjects such as these were for boys only, girls were not allowed to take them.

There are many other interventions such as reading circles (with books supplied by UNICEF) and what we call SAFE clubs - Student Alliance for Equity; they are designed to help students help each other to study and where they also learn life skills. Traditionally, girls cannot have boys as friends, they cannot mingle but in these groups this can happen. We have overseers and peer educators trained to lead these groups. So they talk about different life skills, how to be assertive, HIV and AIDS issues, how to prevent infection etc. We also have what we call Back-to-Back where women in the community who have a skill (knitting, sewing etc.), come together and help each other learn. Then we try to give them a seed fund so that they can start projects and raise funds. 70% of the profits usually go to the women, and the rest goes to the children who are out of school. This runs hand in hand with ‘transit schools' in most communities where children who drop out of school are encouraged back. We also have a security and safety project as some girls have to walk a long way to and from school and run the risk of abuse or even rape. We now have ‘safe houses' with matrons who care for the girls; we now have about 6 of these houses; we also have mobile libraries as most schools do not have adequate amounts of books. Ultimately, the challenge is about building real access to education.

Lack of education has a big impact on the kind of decisions women make e.g. how they defend themselves because they may not understand their rights. We have a lot of women who find themselves in positions where they say ‘If I stand up to my husband and say this, what happens if he kicks me out, where will I go, how will I care for my children?'. This affects the country as a whole. When a child goes to school, they come home with homework and may not understand it or how to do it. If the mother is educated then they will be able to help but if the mother is not educated, the children may fall behind, and may even eventually drop out.

Most schools have HIV and AIDS clubs, but not everyone belongs to them, and that's one disadvantage. The only time a whole school would benefit is if the HIV and AIDS club decides to do a presentation at assembly or something like that. Then everyone will hear. So to a certain extent, it is filtering into schools but not really fully; it needs to be included more in the curriculum for all ages. Some people are ok with their children learning about condoms and sex. But others feel that by teaching them about these things we are giving permission to have sex and culturally, some people are not comfortable talking about sex and reproductive health at all.

There is so much excitement when you go to a community and the women have learned to write their name - it brings a lot of pride. Traditionally, when a girl comes of age she is sent to her grandmother to be taught about womanhood and marriage. But if the grandmother is unable to read or write, she will only teach the girl about the more traditional aspects of marriage, and nothing about the danger of HIV and AIDS. If those women are taught how to read and write, and have information about HIV and AIDS that is the time they can teach girls about protecting themselves. Sometimes the children just have to depend on what they learn from television, radio and their friends.

HIV and AIDS education needs to be better represented within the school curriculum, and it also needs to be more integrated into teacher training colleges because teachers need to have this information. In this context, we are trying to use a gender responsive pedagogy where teachers are being responsive to gender. The way we are approaching this pedagogy is the way we need to approach HIV and AIDS, through a gender focus. Through the colleges, we can reach the teachers. Through the teachers, the students. Through the students, the homes.

Through the colleges, we can reach the teachers. Through the teachers, the students. Through the students, the homes.

Right now, women have little say in terms of bedroom issues. They go by what the man says. But if they are given information about how they can share this information with their husbands, what their rights are, perhaps a lot of issues could be resolved.

We need to have mobile schools in rural areas where even just once a week in the really remote areas, we have teachers coming to see the women, teaching them something, leaving them homework for the following lesson. If we were to bring the school to the communities where they could spend a few hours, women would be very willing and maybe then, women in really rural areas can have access to education.

Some cultures believe that the earlier the girl gets married, especially if she is a virgin, then the better it is in terms of the dowry; this is a major issue. There are cultural traditions where if a woman dies, her sister takes her place without finding out why someone has died. Such cultural practices are hindering women.

The situation for women is now improving even in rural areas where there are groups of women who take part in these clubs and where they teach each other skills and reading and writing. They are making an effort on their own. In the past people chose to send the boy to school but for a girl, she would be married off. Now many have realised that it is not always the case that a girl should get married. The value placed on education is also changing. People are becoming sensitised and we now hear more about abuse etc. In the past we would have been told not to embarrass the family by talking about this. Sometimes we would only hear about it after a woman has died; now it is different, women can talk about it more. They also have the courage to report cases of abuse, although they still fear not being protected. Education is positive because people now know they have rights and women know where they can go to be kept safe. Women also now realise how important being educated is along with having work, so that they become self-reliant instead of just depending on their husband. This is what is happening, tradition is changing.

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Edith Ng'oma is Programmes Manager at FAWEZA – the Forum for African Women Educationalists of Zambia, an NGO advocating for change in the Zambian education system and more broadly on the needs of girls and women.