EFA Report

The EFA 2009 report discusses the many problems facing developing countries in the realm of education. Inadequate early childhood care, financial problems, adult illiteracy, and gender disparities are the main topics of discussion. Inequality based on income, gender, location, ethnicity, language, and disability only further enhance the disadvantages too many children must overcome. Though some progress has been made on these issues, it is coming at much too slow a pace.
We know the benefits of education are that it can allow students to gain higher wages, increase their productivity, reduce child mortality, and provide a sense of empowerment for female students. But these benefits cannot be taken advantage of until governments enact effective policy reform.
This issue of education in developing countries is actually a topic I am studying right now in an Economic Development class. Cultural traditions and family labor needs will often keep girls out of school and thus hinder their ability to reap the benefits mentioned earlier. These families view the opportunity cost of sending their daughters to school far too detrimental to their household’s financial well-being. One such way to encourage and boost female school enrollment is to compensate for these opportunity costs by way of scholarships and stipends. We’ve learned about a Female Secondary School Stipend Program in Bangladesh that saw girls’ enrollment rise to double the national average. There was a similar success story in Mexico called the Progresa Program, it gave poor families cash awards to cover the opportunity cost of sending their daughters to school and has since become a model for similar programs across Latin America.