Overall, girls’ school enrolment rates across the South and East Asian region have increased significantly, with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Maldives and all of East Asia reaching complete or near-complete gender parity (Chitrakar, 2009). As an example of incredible progress, Bangladesh increased secondary school enrolment for girls to 56 % from 13 % within ten years (Oster et al. 2009). However, it is difficult to generalize progress within the South and East Asian region as some countries have higher populations of marginalized or poverty-stricken groups with high gender inequality in education. 

 

NGOs and governments have stepped up in recent years to campaign for girls’ education, provide support and incentives to send girls to school. It is important to note that enrolment is not an indicator of true progress, as educational inequality still exists within schools. Albeit at a slower rate, educational reform is occurring as well to combat gender inequality within schools. This section will look at promising initiatives by communities, NGOs and governments to educate girls effectively. 

 

Community Mobilization through Partnerships 

 

When every part of a community has a seat at the decision-making table, girls’ education becomes more accessible and families are less anxious about their daughters attending school. Community mobilization can be defined as the process by which individuals in a community affect their own change after being equipped with the necessary resources and skills. Local and international NGOs have partnered with communities throughout South and East Asia to understand their concerns over girls’ education and provide them with the power to create better school systems. 

 

One example can be seen in Nepal, where an action-research project led by UNESCO connected community organizations to parents of girls in two poor rural communities where enrolment and completion rates were low (Jenkins 2005).

 

With mutual trust established between community members and organizations through informal discussions, families’ and students’ concerns relating to girls’ education were identified. Education Committees (EC) were established to inform parents and students of the importance of girls’ education and financially support girls and their families when enrolled in schools. 

 

ECs involved the community in every decision and introduced various in-school programs to empower not only the girls in their education but also their mothers. One mother was so encouraged by the EC she said: “I would rather eat one meal a day and be able to send my children to school” (Jenkins, 2005). One of the two communities had 25 school-age girls, and by the end of this project, 6 girls enrolled in school for the first time while 8 returned after dropping out. Local women felt the impacts of this project, noting: “Before, [women] would never speak in public. Now they are holding meetings and talking with microphones” (Jenkins, 2005).

 

NGO Work 

 

Many NGOs have faced criticism for leaving communities in developing countries worse-off by providing unsustainable aid and neglecting the true needs of community members. However, there are many positive examples of sustainable aid delivered by girls’ education NGOs. 

 

In China, a local NGO called The NonCun Scholarship Mission provides scholarships for rural girls to pursue higher levels of education (Seeberg et al. 2017). The NGO relies on a system of mutual accountability; community members keep the scholarship recipients and their families accountable to make sure the girls do pursue higher education. In one instance, a family was unsupportive of their daughter’s education, so the NGO partnered with a local field manager to help put the girl back into school in a culturally responsive way. During her schooling, if further barriers arose to inhibit her education, the field manager would be in contact with the family along with the NGO to negotiate her return to school. 

 

Government Initiatives 

 

Governments play one of the most important roles in girls’ education as they provide funding for schools and implement policies. Most governments in South and East Asia have abolished school fees for primary school and some have gone beyond this to provide monetary incentives to girls in school. Bangladesh is a promising, but not perfect, example of the impact of government initiatives on girls’ prosperity. 

 

The government of Bangladesh introduced stipends for secondary and primary school female students in 1982 (Huxley, 2008). Some of the main goals of this initiative are to decrease child marriage rates and increase school enrolment. The results of this project were largely positive as dropout rates fell dramatically from 14.7% to 3.5% in some areas after its introduction (Raynor, 2006). In fact, there were more girls enrolled in secondary school than boys in 2019 (UNESCO, 2020). Bangladesh has also implemented a policy that requires 60% of all primary teachers to be female, as female teachers can serve as positive role models for girls and decrease incidents of gender-based violence in school (Huxley, 2008).