“1.Equal access to quality education can be achieved by emphasizing on quality teachers,curriculum in place in TTCs must incorporate gender mainstreaming.Professional code of conduct for all teachers must be adhered to .

Emphasis in Kenya today is ensuring both gender of teachers are deployed to all schools

2. Kenya currently in the process of curriculum reform. Among areas of focus is gender mainstreaming in the curriculum and development of teaching materials that are gender sensitive

3.Legal,Policies and campaigns invlude:The constitution of Kenya 2010 outlaws discrimination on the basis of gender and emphasizes social justice and equal opportunities with regard to education. The children act 2001 unequivocally stipulates every child’s entitlement to education, thus ensuring full inclusion of girls in basic education.

Education act 2012 lay emphasis on girls education and stipulates measures for mainstreaming gender in education.

Eradication of corporal punishment in 2009 has also ensured dignity of the girl child is protected.

Campaigns include having cerebration of girls and women fully recognised each year on an official day in support global woman day. Others :Campaigns on eradication of female genital mutilation (FGM)

Successful strategies are -establishments of rescue centres for girls rescued from forced early marriages and FGM, expansion of boarding schools for girls, gender biased recruitment and deployment of teachers and managers ,re-admission of girls who become pregnant while in school ,among others.

Advocating for stronger measures should be on areas of gender sensitisation’s and advocacy and partnerships and collaboration.

Gender stereotypes is a challenge facing most nations of the world”

Eliminating School-Related Gender-Based Violence (SRGBV)

Gender-based violence is unfortunately common occurrence in Ethiopia’s
education system. A series of awareness–raising activities have been
implemented in communities around the country, particularly through community dialogues. ESDP I suggests that issues of gender-based violence, population and family, harmful traditional practices (female genital mutilation, early marriage, abduction, etc.) and sexual transmitted infections (STIs), be addressed in the mandated curriculum revision. Key Challenges for Eliminating School-Related Gender-Based Violence On school compounds, corporal punishment, psychological and sexual violence and abuse from peers, teachers and others are common setbacks for girls’ well-being and educational attainment. A 2008 study conducted by USAID indicated that sixty-one percent of female students in Ethiopia experience school based psychological violence at some point in their educational experience[1]. SRGBV is a violation of students’ right to safety and well being in school, as well as their right to education, as it can significantly impact school attendance, retention and learning performance.

Strategies for Eliminating School-Related Gender-Based Violence

Strategy 1: Coordinate efforts to raise awareness and build capacity of students, staff and community members around SRGBV prevention

Prevention efforts can be particularly effective in helping to reducing
rates of school-related gender-based violence. Awareness-raising activities and
a “zero-tolerance” culture to SRGBV should be promoted in all school
environments and surrounding communities through school festivals, community
dialogues, and public and education media. Life skills education, which
includes the topics of gender equality, HIV and AIDS, sexual and reproductive
health and SRGBV prevention should be provided through expanded co-curricular
modalities in schools, and through modular approaches in colleges, TVET
institutions and universities. Additionally, fully resourced health clinics should
be made available on all higher education campuses, staffed with experts who
can provide clinical, counselling and educational services, including on SRGBV,
sexual and reproductive health, HIV and AIDS, and substance abuse prevention.

Strategy 2: Institutionalize SRGBV prevention and
mitigation measures

Prevention education and services should be accompanied by a concerted
effort to adopt SRGBV prevention and mitigation measures into the institutional
framework and culture at all levels of the education sector. This can be
accomplished in part by applying a sexual and gender-based violence Code of
Conduct throughout all general education settings, CTEs, TVET institutions,
HLIs, and mainstreaming the Code into institutional regulations and
disciplinary acts. Furthermore, SRGBV cannot be eliminated without reliable,
comparable, sex and age-dis aggregated data on the issue. Reports and trends in
SRGBV should be systematically documented and used in administrative decision
making processes and to inform upstream policy actions.

We developed that policy with a considerable success in several dimensions since 1991 to 1995 when the government changed abruptly its support, due to the ipressure of the Church claiming for a more conservative perspective of men and women roles, family structure in educational curriculum, among other social topics.

We learned a lot from that experience as well as from others that we continue planning and coordinating in different countries of Latin America

Our main lessons learnt were:
We need to based our strategies or programs in a theory of change , that comprises an understanding of social, cultural, institutional and subjectivity dynamics and changes. Related to that it is extremely important to understand that change is inextricably connected with conflict, resistances, inspiration,hope, fear,desire among other complex processes

Our second lesson has to do with the need to have a deep comprehension of the political, economic and cultural context within which gender equality policies in education will be implemented, Advances and regressions , resistances and oppositions in educational settings does not happens in a vacum, nor just inside schools or universities

To end one quote from Mieke Verloo

“By now, we know something about the reasons why progress is so slow. The tenacity and complexity of gender inequality regimes is caused by the multilevel and multidimensional character of gender, by its location in all social domains, and by its deep connections to other inequalities.”

Our latest gender review looked at a list of potential indicators we could use to measure gender inequality in education (http://gem-report-2016.unesco.org/en/chapter/looking-ahead/ ). It included the need to monitor learning materials. If you take a look at the list (photo below too), you will see that it takes us truly into the realms of ‘equality’ talk, rather than focusing on parity, as we have been doing for the past 15 years. For instance, it calls for us to look at the percentage of children who are married before the age of 18, the percentage of women in leadership positions in political and economic life (see other photo below), the percentage who agree with the statement in DHS and MICS that ‘if a wife burns the food, a husband is justified in hitting her’ and so on.

To reach consensus on how best to measure substantive gender equality in education, and to establish a process for collaborating and sharing practice, the GEM Report believes a working group on measurement methodology – including UNESCO Institute for Statistics, UNGEI and UN Women – should be formed, as well as a transnational network allowing groups concerned with gender equality in education to share strategies related to global progress on measurement. Such networks have been successful on other issues, such as domestic violence and HIV. No reason it wouldn’t work for us too.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/54a7919febda2c034148bd658c0e1259964aec8daa05b02a9fcf8e0b2f7504ed.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/26ac8fc05a5fe9a4513ab268ece655e3645ff9229de0d3363390943fc49bae8d.jpg

Designed to address quality of teaching in Africa institutions through teachers’ training, the FAWE Gender-Responsive Pedagogy (GRP) model aims to train teachers to inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instil a love of learning in both female and male learners. GRP training make teachers become more gender aware and also to adopt teaching practices that promote equity and equality in the treatment and participation of boys and girls in curriculum activities.
The model, which started as a pilot intervention in a few schools in a few countries, has been acknowledged by Ministries of education in a number of countries in Africa, some of who have taken a step further and integrating it in pre and in-service teacher training institutions. Since 2005, over 12,500 teachers have experienced this teacher training curriculum model. When FAWE introduced the GRP in Teacher Training Colleges in 2009, thanks to UNICE ESARO financial support, the Ministry of Education’s was to experiment its effectiveness in enhancing teachers’ pedagogical skills with the aspiration to enable them address girls’ lower performance, create gender responsive teaching and learning environments, and to build the capacity of school managers for them to transform management practices so that they account for the needs of both sexes.
A year later, the GRP attracted funding from GIZ and the Ministry of education with technical support from FAWE Malawi, integrated the GRP in all pre-service teacher training colleges in Malawi. Since then, there has been a very positive change at TTC level in terms of ensuring that both male and female student teachers are treated equally and fairly and are equipped with gender responsive pedagogical skills. This has encouraged both male and female student and teachers to take up more challenging position in the student body. This change is challenging the culture perceptions which divides roles and responsibility according to gender and discourages females to take up leadership position.
The implementation of the GRP model in primary and secondary schools, and teacher training colleges (TTCs) made some positive impacts in the country. Among them: Teachers, tutors and head teachers directly exposed to FAWE’s GRP training had changed their attitudes and practices and had become more gender-sensitive, there was a positive change in the gender dynamics in schools as the behavior and attitudes of girls and boys in the classroom became more gender responsive – the girls actively participated in the classroom discussions and there was an increase in their confidence levels -,there was also an increase in girls’ enrolment and enhanced demand for admission in the colleges.

“When I plan my lessons, I do it with the girls and boys in mind. If I have six questions, three will be for boys and three for girls. My learners know there is no escape in answering the questions posed”. – Charity from Salima LEA Primary School, Malawi

Through this project, head teachers and teachers became more supportive as they continued to partner with the communities in provision of school facilities for girls. The girls also gained more confidence and discussed the issues of growing up more freely. Both learners and teachers understood each other which led to respect of all and reduced abuse of girls with consequent enhanced retention of girls. Another example see the link
http://www.nyasatimes.com/malawi-educationists-impressed-with-girls-enrollment-in-karonga/

Addressing gender stereotypes in the classroom

1. How is the learning environment influencing adolescent girls ‘education outcomes?

In Tanzania, despite the effort of the government to ensure equal access and retention of both boys and girls in schools, participation of girls in education still face challenges related to unconducive school environment that negatively impact their performance especially at secondary school level. Some schools especially in rural areas do not have adequate facilities conducive for girls’ participation in schools. Such facilities include insufficient toilets, lack of water, electricity and basic health services (serviettes and pain killers) to support adolescent girls. Some of them miss school during their menstruation period which affect negatively their educational outcomes.

Most of secondary schools do not have boarding facilities, adolescent girls are obliged to rent rooms in villages located around the schools and most of the times the schools do not have in place a support system to ensure those girls are safe and concentrate on their studies. Some of the adolescent girls living in those conditions are victims of teenage pregnancies and rarely finish secondary education.

2. What are some of the recent trends in the development of teaching materials (including textbook content):

• In order to enhance learning, the recent trends is the introduction of blended learning modalities in Teacher Training colleges which include the use of learning management systems and library systems.

• Pre-service teachers for science and mathematics have been introduced to ICT integration in teaching and learning therefore adolescent girls in Tanzania will soon be introduced to digital learning modalities.

• UNESCO Tanzania Office has installed a digital school to enhance performance of adolescent girls from hard to reach and disadvantaged pastoralist communities in Ngorongoro. A learning management system called ELIMIKA (meaning Learn) has be installed at the digital school. It has approved curriculum for students and content to enhance teachers’ pedagogical skills. Four secondary schools have been connected to the digital schools.

3. What are some of the policies, compains and initiatives that successfully helped to counter gender stereotypes in school setting?

UNESCO Dar es Salaam office has undertaken the following actions at school level:

– Creation of girls’ clubs/safe spaces and peer mentoring. A safe space is a place in the school environment and a group of students (80% girls and 20% boys) where members know they are safe from physical harm or harassment, and where they feel free to express their honest opinions, share their problems and pressures, and support and encourage one another to pursue their educational goals. UNESCO developed training material for safe space creation and sustainability in schools:

 Guide for facilitators

 Guide for students

 Hand book and resource kit.

The safe spaces serve as launching pad for any interventions planned for girls’ empowerment. To enhance girls’ empowerment and confidence in schools, UNESCO collaborates with the Forum for African Women Educationalist – FAWE Tanzania Chapter in introducing the TUSEME meaning “Let speak out” girls’ empowerment package.

– Support to teachers and education management at local administration level in providing them adequate knowledge and skills to create conducive learning environment for both girls and girls at school. A toolkit for teachers to apply inclusive and gender- responsive approaches in the schools have been developed by adapting the UNESCO Inclusive Learning Friendly Environment Toolkit (ILFE). The main objective of the toolkit is to provide practitioners with adequate knowledge on Inclusive Education as well as user-friendly materials that can be used by teachers who find themselves working in ever more diverse classrooms. It also offers a holistic, practical perspective on how schools and classrooms can become more inclusive and learning-friendly for both girls and boys. In addition to the ILFE training for teachers, UNESCO in collaboration with the Forum for African Women Educationalists – FAWE Tanzania Chapter organise training of teachers on Gender Responsive Pedagogy (GRP). The attitude of teachers and pedagogical skills can influence negatively the educational outcome of adolescent girls. The objective of that intervention is to help teachers improve their teaching methods in order to improve participation, retention and performance of girls at school.

4. How can we advocate for a stronger measurement framework and solidify indicators on gender inequality in education, so that we can know where progress is being made and where challenges remain?

In order to solidify indicators on gender inequality in education the following suggestions can be advocated to decision makers:

• Advocate for SDG4 indicators for gender to be integrated in the mainstream education monitoring framework.

• Assessment of the available School Management Information System that provides real-time data on the status of the schools including gender issues so that the system can be mainstreamed to inform better decision makers and to help address problems in a timely manner.

• Continue to introduce programmes that encourage girls to take maths and science subjects for future STEM female experts.

“Hello everyone.My name is Evernice Munando .I work with the organisation called Female Students Network Trust(FSNT) based in Zimbabwe.I am one of the laureates who won the inaugural UNESCO award in 2016 which seek to advance Girls and Women’s Education post 2030.

My contribution dwells much on the availability of teaching materials which teachers use within classrooms which perhaps hinder or deprive women and girls a conducive learning environment. The situation here in Africa, Zimbabwe particular is quite sad because most of our girls and women before we even talk about learning materials,they do not have access to education in most instances.The major factor being the issue of affordability/access,patriarchy encompassed with social norms and values which undermines the girls and women’s obligation to education.In many schools being primary or secondary either tertiary, many girls and women suffer sexual abuse by the same teachers who are suppose take them through education.It sad to learn that on December 10, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary education published a report saying 4 500 pupils who sat for grade seven could not proceed to form 1 due to pregnancy.

Now coming to learning materials it is a difficulty situation where students are required to buy their own copies of text book and its even worse when it comes to girls because when they are given homework,they will not be able to do it since when they get home,they are required to do house chores and most of their study time is taken away.Learning materials are inadequate hence teachers would end up compromising the quality of education.This is also linked to those students with disability infrastructural facilities are not adequate hence depriving their right to a conducive learning environment.

Please learn more about the Female Students Network Trust –> http://femalestudentsnetwork.o…

I think what needs to be done is a holistic approach where the Ministry of Education and other interested partners and students themselves should work together and develop a curriculum review framework which addresses these gaps”

This guide is directed to all actors responsible for preparing and/or revising textbooks, including Ministries of Education and publishing bodies. It will also be of interest to anyone associated with textbooks and having occasion to use them: at school, at home, in the community, in research institutions and elsewhere. It shows how gender inequality is constructed in textbooks through the curriculum; and give actors involved the tools to revise textbooks or use existing textbooks critically, whether in the teacher/learner relationship, among individuals involved in the textbook chain (from design to use), or outside the school in families and the community.