Central Africa 

Cameroon 

In Cameroon, according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 70 percent of women are illiterate. A variety of factors have led to the lack of education for women. Traditional values and inadequate family support are a cause for lack of success. Additionally, rampant poverty often forces women to leave school and work to earn an income for their families. Child marriage also plays a significant role, wherein UNICEF found that 31 percent of girls in Cameroon (where he age of marriage is 15 with parental consent) were married before the age of 18. Girls who marry are likely to drop out in order to perform household duties, raise children, or due to expectations from their husbands and in-laws. 

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Central African Republic 

According to the Borgen Project, the Central African Republic is plagued by teacher shortages, with a lack of experienced and qualified teachers on the elementary level. Trained teachers are often replaced by parents or individuals without experience. Additionally they are left with the care of overcrowded schools and classrooms, where the teacher to student ratio is 80 to 1. 

However, the majority of female students in the Central African Republic dropout of school due to poverty and child marriage (which are often inter-linked, as many young girls will marry with the hopes of lifting themselves and their families out of poverty). According to UNICEF, 29 percent of girls are married by the age of 15, and 68 percent before the age of 18. The majority of these young girls will not return to school once they are married. 

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Democratic Republic of the Congo 

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the poorest countries in the world, and like many other countries in Central Africa, girls often take up jobs in order to pull their families out of poverty (which leaves them with little time to attend school). Another factor preventing girls from pursuing an education are the militiamen of the Congolese army (Forces armées de la République Démocratique du Congo, or FARDC for short). They have been reported to rape the female students and teachers from schools that were attacked, creating a sense of fear around sending girls to school and letting women teach, according to the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack. Additionally, roughly 30-40 percent of these groups are made up of women who are lured in by the promise of wages, but are then drugged and raped. Once they leave the militia, they are unable to rejoin schools due to a stigma, where teachers and administrators accuse them of being prostitutes or carriers of HIV. 

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East Africa 

South Sudan 

At just four percent, South Sudan has one of the lowest secondary education enrollment rates in the entire world. A myriad of factors contribute to this statistic, one of them being the prevalence of child marriage. In South Sudan, according to the Human Rights Watch organization, over 52 percent of girls marry before they are 18 years old. The Human Rights Watch reports the story of Helen, who is just 16 years old. She lives near the capital city of Juba, and was married just a year earlier at the age of 15 to a man over three times her age. Helen stated that if she had the choice, she would’ve chosen school over marriage, but her family was unable to afford the school fees needed to maintain her education. Her story exemplifies how poverty and the inaccessibility of schools fuel low rates of girls’ education. 

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Malawi 

One of the largest issues Malawi faces in regards to girls’ education is access to schools. There are few schools, and many young girls are forced to travel long distances in order to attend schools. This daily journey makes them vulnerable to both exploitation and dropping out of school. Additionally, according to UNESCO statistics, the teacher to student ratio in Malawi is 72 to 1, which significantly inhibits the quality of education received. Marriage is also a big obstacle, where married girls are overloaded with household chores, or their husbands do not allow them to attend school. And although marriage below the age of 18 in Malawi is now illegal, their child marriage rate is 42 percent (2020 UNICEF Child Marriage Database). 

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Tanzania 

In Tanzania, the Human Rights Watch has found that one of the largest barriers for young girls receiving an education has been discriminatory practices against pregnant students in schools. Schools have been discovered to perform pregnancy tests on female students and expel girls who are pregnant. A 98 page report from the HRW states that other obstacles include having to travel large distances in order to attend school, and in some cases, sexual abuse from their teachers and tutors. 

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Southern Africa 

South Africa 

In South Africa, while the rates at which boys and girls are enrolled in school is fairly equal, there is a large education gap on the basis of race due to their history of appartheid. Studies have shown that Black girls are at a significant disadvantage in comparison to White girls in education. Furthermore, women are four times more likely than men to contract HIV, which if contracted, often leads to them dropping out of school. According to a national statistics survey conducted in South Africa, 138 out of every 100,000 women were raped in 2016 and 2017, the highest in the world. High rates of sexual violence contribute to fear of attending school, as some female students have reported being raped by their male classmates. 

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Botswana 

Like South Africa, while girls and boys have almost equal access to education in Botswana, there are many other factors that prevent young women from completing their education after they enroll. In Botswana, almost 40 percent of the citizens are HIV positive, which leads to the creation of many orphans. Within the cultural context of Botswana, it is the daughters who are expected to step up in their families in order to care for their siblings and to do household chores should such a case arise. 

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Swaziland 

While girls in Swaziland have a higher education enrollment rate than their men, there is still a lot to be desired within their educational system. Although 97 percent of girls will enroll in primary education at some point in their lives, only 37.7 percent will then make their way to secondary school, and a measly 5.5 percent will go on to enroll in tertiary education. With almost 60 percent of Swazi people living under the nationally defined poverty line (which is $2 a day), poverty is one of the largest barriers that prevents girls from attending school at higher rates. This poverty rate was only exacerbated by their drought, which made families reliant on agriculture especially vulnerable. 

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West Africa 

Nigeria 

Nigeria accounts for 45% of all of the out of school children in West Africa, with over 10 million kids out of school. Girls make up over 60% of this figure. According to the Malala Fund, early marriage is a leading concern in regards to lack of education, and many of the current cultural beliefs fuel gender discrimination. These issues have only been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Young girls are the first to be pulled from education, and are the least likely to return to school. Only 10% of girls have been able to access school via television during the pandemic, according to a report by the Malala Fund. Financial burdens is also a large factor. With school fees, many families have to pick and choose which children they can pay the fees for and they often prioritize their sons. 

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Sierra Leone 

As of 2016, UNICEF reported that 46% of women aged 15-24 are illiterate, compared to only 28% of men in the same age category. In Sierra Leone, poverty is one of the biggest barriers for young girls attending schools. With over 70% of Sierra Leoneans living on less than $3 a day, 40% of girls reported poverty as their primary reason for leaving school. Another reason for them not attending school includes the Ebola epidemic, which is estimated to have left 12,000 children orphaned in Sierra Leone. In the case of orphans, it is often the young women who are encouraged to step up and take charge financially in their families. Additionally, teenage pregnancy spiked during the Ebola epidemic as girls began to take money for sex in order to purchase neccesities, which is an added barrier to continuing education. 

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Ghana 

Over 10% of girls aged 15 to 19 have at least one child, which will make them less likely to attend school as they have to care for their child or children. Furthermore, in Ghana over 50% of girls have reported experiencing gender based violence while in school, which ultimately deters them from continuing their education. Poverty is another large barrier for girls’ education. In Ghana, girls who live in rural, impoverished areas will attend school for an average of 4 years, compared to 13 years for girls who live in more affluent areas. Girls are also likely to skip school during their menstrual cycle if they cannot afford pads, which are viewed as luxury items.