….PAP throws weight behind #AfricaEducatesHer campaign
Brighton Chiseva
MIDRAND – As the effects of Covid -19 pandemic still linger in Africa, its ravaging effects impacted a lot of girls especially on the education front where more than 30 million girls have been forced out school.
The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) has vowed to support the African Union (AU) International Centre for Girls and Women’s Education in Africa (CIEFFA) on its campaign, #AfricaEducatesHer.
PAP declared its support after receiving the shocking statistics by CIEFFA during a day’s workshop which indicated that a total number of 32.6 million girls from both primary and secondary schools were send out of school by the effects of the global pandemic.
The workshop was running under the theme: Contribution of Pan African Parliamentarians for National Implementation of the AfricaEducatesHer Campaign to create legislation to ensure learning opportunities in post Covid-19 for girls.
Giving her presentation at the workshop, the AU CIEFFA Acting Coordinator Simone Yankey-Ouattara said there are 32.6 million girls out of school and close to 10 million are likely not to return to school.
“There are 32.6 million out of school girls both in primary and secondary schools and 9.3 million of them are likely never to set foot in school again,” said Yankey-Ouattara.
PAP Chairperson of the Committee on Education, Amina Abdou Souna said the purpose of the workshop was to give a platform to suggest and implement solutions to the effects of Covid-19 on girl learners.
“This meeting is meant to find lasting solutions to issues affecting young girls and since the pandemic started, girls have been immensely affected. Statistics show that 11 million girls are unable to go to school as a result of this pandemic, so it is our duty as parliamentarians to see to it that we have results,” said Souna.
PAP President Chief Fortune Charumbira said it was the duty of the parliamentarians to make sure that their respective countries are implementing the Dakar Declaration of Education For All (EFA) which is a global commitment to provide quality basic education for all children, youth and adults.
“It is our duty to oversee that our countries are implementing the Dakar declaration, what member states have done, if they have moved, to what extend. We should pass laws in our national budgets when we pass them; we have to make sure the budgets cater for the education of girls and young women’s education.
“By doing that, we will be promoting the AfricaEducatesHer campaign. We as PAP are happy to say we are part of this campaign in full,” said Charumbira.
He went on to say every parliamentarian will have to introduce the campaign to his own parliament and said as PAP they were modelling a law on gender equality under which #AfricaEducatesHer automatically falls.
“As PAP, I am proud to say that we are currently developing a model law on gender equality which includes #AfricaEducatesHer,” said Charumbira.
