Photo: RYAN CARON KING / WNPR A new report released just two days before International Women’s Day has stressed the urgency of making sure refugee girls and young women receive an education.
The report, “Her Future: Challenges and Recommendations to Increase Education for Refugee Girls” by Jesuit Refugee Service/USA is based on the observations of JRS workers around the world and especially in refugee communities where they provide educational services.
It points out that although girls’ access to education worldwide has received more attention in recent years, refugee girls are still only half as likely to be in enrolled in secondary school as boys.
“In countries affected by conflict, girls are 2.5 times more likely to be out of school than boys,” the report notes, adding that girls make up half of the 7.4 million school-age refugees but face “disproportionate challenges in accessing and sustaining their education”.
In the primary grades, the student mix of boys and girls is about equal, but this shifts as the students get older when girls drop out at a higher rate than boys.