The importance of educating women and girls

The education of women and girls throughout the world is of paramount importance. Educating them will have implications for societies, communities and the world in general. The education of women and girls is a key driver of sustainable development and social progress, and a human rights issue. However, there are still many challenges and obstacles to girls’ education. Inequality and discrimination are still the order of the day. Let’s take a closer look at what this means and what the possible solutions are.

Gender equality and equity

There has been a marked improvement in girls’ education over the last 25 years, and much progress has been made. The latest UNESCO report states that 180 million more girls have enrolled in school. However, when it comes to access to and completion of education in poor countries, there is a gender gap. Girls are less likely to enrol and stay in school, those who do enrol do not complete primary school, and few of those who do complete primary school go on to university.

According to surveys carried out by UNESCO:

2018 (130 million girls in the world are not in school)
2019 (12 million are married at an early age)
2019 (18.5 million girls aged between 15 and 19 become pregnant).

According to article 3 of the preamble to the 1946 constitution: ‘The law guarantees women, in all areas, equal rights with men’ despite this, there is still a long way to go before we can talk about equity and equality between women and men, particularly in education. The GLOBAL EDUCATION MONITORING REPORT (GEM) affirmed this in a report published in 2020 entitled ‘25 years of efforts to achieve gender equality in education’.

Access to education, the main obstacles

Girls and young women are deprived of their right to education. They face various obstacles. These include:

Poverty: Almost everywhere in the world, children living in poverty encounter difficulties in education, but the stakes are much higher for girls. In families with little money, there are not enough resources to send all the children to school, so the choice goes to the boy or boys in the family.

Ethnicity: There are also cultural factors that come into play; in some traditions, unfortunately, girls are still assigned to housework, and the focus is on domestic chores rather than their education, as it should be. This favours the education of boys while neglecting that of girls.

Disability: Disabled girls are doubly victimised because of their status as girls and as disabled children. Education is difficult for them to access, and they are subject to multiple forms of discrimination. Many of them do not go to school, and the quality and treatment received by those who do is questionable.

Child marriage: Child marriage, most of which is forced, has serious consequences on the lives of young girls, which in turn has repercussions for the community. Married children mean responsibility and dropping out of school.

Early and unwanted pregnancy: When girls become pregnant, they automatically stop attending school, either because they are stigmatised, marginalised or simply because their institution considers pregnancy to be grounds for dismissal.

Gender-based violence: So many young girls have had to drop out of school because of gender-based violence. The violence is physical, sexual and moral. It usually happens at school, on the way to school, or on the way to get supplies for the home (fetching water, wood for cooking, etc.).

Educating girls, opportunities and consequences

While there are obstacles to girls’ education, there are also opportunities that could alleviate the problems. If we want a strong society with fulfilled women, we need to educate them, starting in early childhood. Educating girls from early childhood will give them a solid foundation for their learning and their future. They become well-rounded, aware adults. They avoid early marriages and pregnancies that would limit their future prospects.

However, if we are talking about schooling for girls, we need to talk about education that is adapted to the needs of each individual. Many children have access to education on the cheap. Teachers are not sufficiently trained, the environment is inadequate and there is a lack of school infrastructure. Talking about getting girls into school should really mean guaranteeing quality and appropriate education.

Gender stereotypes need to be deconstructed

Girls and boys must enjoy their right to education equally and equitably. (Including pregnant girls and young mothers). Governments must establish an inclusive education system at all levels. Disabled people must fully enjoy their right to education in accordance with Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The same opportunities must be offered to all on an equal basis.

If we want girls to go to school, it must be of good quality and there must be a good infrastructure. Much better hygiene care is needed in schools. The issue of menstrual hygiene should no longer be an obstacle to education, and there must be access to intimate hygiene for girls in schools.

There is no more effective tool for sustainable development than girls’ education

Girls’ schooling is a tool for reducing poverty in their communities, and has economic benefits. According to the World Bank, each year of secondary education enables girls to increase their adult earnings by up to 25%. Education empowers girls and increases their ability to make decisions. An educated woman is much more likely to engage in civic and community activities, and to know and defend her rights.

Getting girls into school will have social, demographic and intergenerational consequences. Educated girls become adult women with better family planning results. Educated women help to improve maternal and child health. Prenatal care increases with the level of education.

An educated woman will pass on her knowledge to her children, who in turn will do the same and perpetuate the cycle. One educated woman can produce a generation of educated men and women. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), education reduced the rate of malnutrition in the world by 40% at the end of the twentieth century. Girls’ education is important in all areas and at all levels. Getting girls into school is, and will remain a sure route to sustainable development, with a new generation of men and women prepared to face the future with hope.

Children’s education and quality of life are influenced by that of their mothers and fathers, but particularly that of their mothers. If we want to break this cycle of inequality, which is so persistent, we need to change the norms now. If the parents’ level of education determines that of their children, then it is in education that we need to invest if we aspire to a new generation of men and women. Educating girls means betting on the future.

This article first appeared in Engage 27.

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BY ROSE-TAMARA JEANTY • May 13, 2024

Chess in Schools - What impact does it have?

By Dan Staples • February 21, 2025

Chess is a low cost, high impact educational intervention. It knows no boundaries of age, gender, faith, ethnicity or disability, and can be played anywhere at any time. The game fosters intellectual and emotional skills crucial to a child’s wider development. Chess in Schools & Communities (CSC) is a nationwide charity founded in 2009 which delivers the educational and social benefits of learning chess to disadvantaged communities across the country. We work in a variety of community settings: libraries, hospitals, youth centres, homes for older people and prisons. Through our Schools’ Programme we currently teach chess in over 300 schools every week and support a further 2,400 schools with tuition, equipment, access to our curriculum and training. In schools, CSC’s unique approach is to run chess lessons during the school day as well as traditional chess clubs after school. Our lessons follow a bespoke 30-week curriculum designed to support other areas of the primary school learning, most notably mathematics. The course is suitable for children with no prior knowledge of board games and takes them from complete beginners to proficient players over the course of an academic year. Lessons are delivered by trained CSC tutors supported by school staff. The lessons are for whole classes of 30 children and typically take place in KS2 in primary school. Teaching during the school day ensures our programme is completely inclusive: no child is excluded from chess activities and children with special educational needs flourish. Girls, often under-represented in typical chess clubs, thrive in our lessons and tend to perform extremely well in our tournaments. In addition to these core activities, CSC also organises the London Chess Classic, a world-class chess tournament with a schools’ festival attended by up to 2,500 of our pupils, and ChessFest, a celebration of the game of chess which culminates in the charity taking over Trafalgar Square for the day to offer free, familyfriendly chess activities to members of the public. On 7th July 2024, a record 23,300 people attended the fourth edition of ChessFest ( www.chess-fest.com ). Our lessons plans contain large amounts of mathematical content particularly relevant to Key Stage 2 in primary schools: Numeracy – children are encouraged to constant keep track of the numerical value of their collection of chess pieces relative to their opponent. Coordinates - it is impossible to describe chess moves without using the coordinates assigned to the squares on the board. Geometry - when teaching in lower KS2, we often find our teaching of the chessboard introduces children to basic geometric vocabulary: horizontal, vertical, rows, columns, diagonals. In addition, when teaching the tricky knight move, many of our tutors use an L-shaped piece of paper to lay on the chess board and then talk about rotations and reflections of that shape to generate all the possible moves. Algorithms - there are various technical tasks in chess, especially when it comes to forcing checkmate. Our curriculum explicitly describes these as algorithms. For example, when delivering checkmate with a king and queen against a bare king, our pupils learn the Closing the Box method. Basic proofs - when learning how the pieces move around a chessboard, our curriculum sets children various problems that require simple mathematical proofs. For example, can the children find a way to move a knight from the bottom left corner of the chessboard to the top right in six moves? In addition to this mathematical knowledge, learning chess also develops various skills that are critical to STEM subjects in general: problem solving logical thought decision making visualisation concentration skills If you are interested in having chess taught in your school please get in touch! www.chessinschools.co.uk – dan@chessinschools.co.uk BIOGRAPHY Dan has worked for CSC since 2011. He started as a tutor in London and became London Coordinator before moving to Yorkshire. While he still loves teaching chess in schools, he coordinates CSC’s work in Yorkshire and other counties and deals with Tutor Recruitment outside London and Training, is National Library Coordinator and Deputy Safeguarding Lead. He is married and has two children. As well as working with chess he also enjoys playing

STEP Starter Sacks: Connecting traditionally nomadic families with preschool education

By Maureen Finn • February 17, 2025

A country should judge the effectiveness of its public services through the experiences of those who fare least well. In Scotland, where many acknowledge the education system to be progressive, children from the Scottish Gypsy/Traveller community have been educationally disadvantaged for generations. Frequently, the children receive no schooling or they opt out at an early age. Scottish Gypsy/Travellers are from a tradition of nomadic communities across the UK, which also includes Romani Gypsies, Welsh Travellers and Irish Travellers. A key concern for communities is sustaining their culture. Most believe that schools fail in preparing their children for Gypsy/Traveller lives. Boys often leave at age 11 to take up opportunities offered through family businesses. Girls leave to be trained in domestic skills by mothers. Recent research findings (STEP, 2023) showed that the involvement of women was key to developing culturally relevant school experiences. However, the modest knowledge that women had of the modern education system was largely based on their own past experiences, which included an inflexible curriculum and frequently involved racism and discrimination from fellow pupils and staff. The women in the study were unaware of the changes to the system over the past 10 years. For example, while pre-school nursery is encouraged and places are free in Scotland, few mothers took up the offer—to do so would be a failure in their maternal duties. The research recommended that educators collaborate with communities to increase women’s knowledge of the system, to empower them to make decisions about their own, and their families’ education in line with SDG5. Communities’ members and educators collaborated with STEP to create STEP Starter Sacks, a culturally relevant play-based programme targetting pre-school-aged children and their mothers. A series of Sacks contained materials that encouraged women to participate in learning activities at home to prepare children for school. More strategically, the sacks also encouraged connections between mothers and nursery / school educators. Through these relationships, we hoped, mothers would gain trust and discover the value of education for all their children not to mention themselves. Moreover, staff at participating centres received training about Gypsy/Traveller culture and using appropriate ways to encourage parental participation. Each sack was colour coded for its contents: , literacy (red), science (yellow) and health and wellbeing (green), each designed to address some known barriers, including: Social rules and routines, helping children’s familiarity and confidence before starting school Mitigating barriers presented through low adult literacy, activity cards with QR codes directed mothers to video content on the STEP website To encourage a sense of ownership and belonging, Gypsy/Traveller culture was explicitly represented in the curriculum materials. To encourage sustained engagement, new Sacks were introduced at four-monthly intervals. The programme has been running for three years. Over 400 women continue to be involved. Their knowledge and understanding of the current education system has increased and we have evidence of changes in decision-making, expectations and aspirations around their children’s education, particularly for girls. “Obviously, education is important for anybody but, like years ago, what it was like for Travellers—you'd get married, you'd cook and you'd clean. You'd have kids. That was the women's life. But I don't want that for my girls. I want them to get an education and enjoy their life a little bit. They don't need a man to provide for them. They can do it themself. Obviously, eventually get married, yes. I just don't want that to be their life plan.” Female, 17-40 The programme has had significant impact on the uptake of nursery places as well as school attendance in older children. For the women, they have reported increased confidence in supporting their children’s learning at home. Most importantly, some described an increased understanding of their own agency. They have collaborated with staff, reaching shared understandings of their cultural needs and expectations. We have also extended the programme, opening local opportunities for women to develop their own literacy. These women now have enhanced capacity (resources, skills, social capital and connections), which we hope will lead to future benefits. BIOGRAPHY Maureen began her career as an artist and a teacher in Scotland. She has worked in schools and galleries throughout the UK using the visual arts to inspire new forms of participation and inclusion in education. She has undertaken research and evaluation for national bodies including The Arts Council of England, NESTA, Scottish Book Trust and The Scottish Government. She is currently Director of STEP, a Knowledge Exchange Centre at the University of Edinburgh, which supports sustainable education for traditionally nomadic communities. Maureen’s doctoral research was in digital participative research methods.

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world"

By Sam Tiwari • February 14, 2025

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world,” wrote a young Anne Frank, at just 14 years old, during one of the darkest periods in modern history. Her words, penned during war, persecution and loss, continue to resonate today, reminding us that even in times of despair, we possess the power to bring about change—both within ourselves and the world around us. As I reflect on the state of the world today, Anne’s message of hope and determination feels more urgent than ever. It is a call to action, a reminder that no matter the challenges, the possibility for change is always within reach. But what does this have to do with the right to education? In my view—everything. Since it was founded in 2009 to honour Steve Sinnott’s legacy and lifetime of commitment to education for all, The Steve Sinnott Foundation has remained steadfast in its mission to advocate for the right to education for every child, everywhere. Through diverse global initiatives, the Foundation has provided access to quality learning in myriad forms. But at its heart lies a powerful belief: education is much more than simply acquiring literacy and numeracy. It is a lifelong process that fosters creativity, critical thinking, and a deep commitment to justice and equality. No child should ever be denied that opportunity. Over the past two decades, significant progress has been made towards expanding access to education. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and their successor, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), have focused on increasing global enrolment and completion rates in primary and secondary education. Encouragingly, data shows these indicators are improving, signaling a positive trend. Numerous innovative initiatives are breaking down barriers to education, and it’s increasingly recognised that achieving one development goal cannot be done in isolation from others. In my work in the field of reproductive health and rights, the interconnectedness of these challenges is evident. In Sub Saharan Africa, for example, a lack of access to contraception remains a major barrier to girls’ education. Each year, around 4 million girls drop out of school due to pregnancy. Without reproductive health services, many young women are forced to leave the classroom, setting off a cycle of lost opportunities that impacts not only their futures but also those of their communities. Inadequate access to safe and clean sanitation facilities, including menstrual hygiene resources, means girls often miss school regularly. Global crises such as climate change and conflict have displaced millions of children, further disrupting their access to consistent education. The scope of these challenges is vast, but so are the efforts to address them. A growing number of inspirational individuals, organisations, and governments are coming together, recognising that complex problems cannot be solved in isolation. Education, health, gender equality, and access to technology are deeply intertwined, and collaborative solutions are needed, ones that reflect the complexity of lived experiences and ensure that no one is left behind. This brings me back to where I began. The barriers to education must be broken because access to learning has the power to transform lives. It changes hearts and minds, creating spaces for dialogue, reconciliation, and collaboration. There are millions of children and young people who could make this world a better place if only they had the opportunity to realise their potential. Education is the cornerstone of a just and equal society. It enables the formation of ideas, empowers individuals to question the status quo, and equips them with the tools to improve the world. Whether in classrooms or communities, the true power of education lies not just in the transmission of knowledge but in its ability to foster change. It creates ripples of positive transformation that extend far beyond the individual, reaching entire societies. In a world too often marked by division and uncertainty, education holds the key to a brighter, more equitable future. And as Anne so beautifully reminded us, we need not wait a single moment to begin. BIOGRAPHY Sam Tiwari is a dynamic leader in global philanthropy and the non-profit sector, with over 20 years of experience advancing human rights and social justice across diverse regions. Her journey began with community organisations in North India, where she gained firsthand insight into the structural and societal barriers faced by women and girls in social, economic and political participation. Sam has since worked across diverse sectors such as women’s cooperatives, education, health and humanitarian response, connecting resources to causes that are tackling some of the biggest challenges facing people and planet. Currently, Sam leads the Philanthropy team at MSI Reproductive Choices, a global organisation championing reproductive rights and bodily autonomy. She also serves on the boards of the Steve Sinnott Foundation and Dignity Alliance International.