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WUSC wants to increase the availability of quality primary, secondary and post-secondary education in refugee camps and to close the gender gap in education between refugee boys and girls. The Shine a Light campaign is a great way to help us address this gender imbalance.
You can also donate directly to the WUSC Student Refugee Program by clicking here.
The girls in the camps want an education, and given opportunities, are prepared to work harder to succeed.
WUSC’s Shine a Light campaign aims to balance these inequities by providing girls with the tools they need to acquire an education. This is your opportunity to make a difference:
- Girls can use solar lamps to study in the evening after they’ve completed their household duties. The lamps provide a safe, cheap and sustainable light source.
- Girls want to improve their school performance and make up the classes that they missed during the day. When remedial classes are offered in the camps, they are filled to capacity. Girls can make up for lost time and succeed if we can offer more classes after regular school hours.
- Girls face cultural and religious barriers or simple constraints such as lack of uniforms, textbooks or sanitary supplies; when provided with school supplies, girls can enroll and remain in school.
- Finally with secondary school scholarships to study away from the refugee camps, promising young girls can attain better grades and get a chance at higher education and take hold of their own future.
Education is a powerful tool; give a young girl an opportunity to reach her full potential; give her a chance to shine!
Education as a Positive Force for Girls
- Girls who study regularly and do well in school inspire their families and communities. Other family members may take advantage of the lamps to read and study, or may become more interested in education.
- Girls in school are more likely to avoid early marriage.
- Educating a girl dramatically reduces the chance that her child will die before age five.
- Educated women are more likely to have healthy, spaced pregnancies, which leads to healthy and educated children.5
- Educating a girl improves her ability to support herself and make informed decisions about her own life.
- Educating a girl provides her with the confidence to value her body and appreciate her self-worth. This allows her to have a say in the wellbeing of herself, her family and her community.
- Educated girls can secure better jobs that provide benefits to the entire family.
- Educating girls and women is a "best bet" investment. It leads to higher incomes, lower birth rates, reduced infant mortality and increased public health.6
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1 Plan. Because I am a Girl: The State of the World’s Girls 2007
(http://www.plan-international.org/resources/publications/childrights/becauseiamagirl/).
2 "Girls missing out on education.” BBC News (8 March 2005). (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/4328911.stm).
3 UNICEF. Excluded and Invisible: State of the World’s Children 2006 (http://www.unicef.org/sowc06/pdfs/sowc06_fullreport.pdf)
4 “Refugee girls missing out on learning.” The United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (http://www.ungei.org/infobycountry/247_834.html).
5 Save the Children UK. The Child Development Index: Holding governments to account for children’s wellbeing (London: Save the Children, 2008).
6 “Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE).” Association for the Development of Education in Africa (http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/action/presentationGroupe?method=getPresentationGroupe&id=17).
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Status of Girls around the World
62 million girls of primary age are out of school.1
The gender gap in education is biggest in sub-Saharan Africa, with 23 million girls completely missing out on school.2
In many African countries, only one in four girls has a chance of receiving a secondary education. At the post-secondary level, there are twice as many male students as female ones.3
Barriers can be religious or cultural, but are more often simple constraints such as lack of teachers, uniforms, textbooks, or sanitary supplies.4
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Women in refugee camps in Kenya |
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Women in refugee camps in Kenya |
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Girl in refugee camp in Kenya |
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