Challenging key barriers to girls education in SENEGAL: Issues of Early Marriage and Early Pregnancy in Kaolack and Gossas

• In Event: Gender, Race and Disabilities in Education

Proposal

According to UNESCO, despite all the progress on girls’ education, Sub-Saharan Africa has still high rates of school exclusion and girls are more affected than boys. For instance, 23% of girls and 19% of boys are not enrolled in primary school. The situation is critical when it comes to secondary school with an exclusion rate of 36% and 32% for girls and boys respectively (WB, 2023; IUS/UNESCO, 2023). For a more equitable world, it is imperative to look seriously at causes for such high rate of exclusion in order to plan tangible interventions for to the achievement of education for ALL.
In Senegal, despite progress in girls’ enrollment, (88.92%), many factors are affecting their retention and completion (UIS/UNESCO, 2020). The proposed paper draws from a project on the issues of child marriage (CM) and early pregnancy (EP) among adolescent girls in Kaolack and in Gossas. The objectives of the study were to generate new knowledge and evidence on CM and EP, to identify strategies for implementing effective interventions and to improve adolescent health through the prevention and reduction of CM, EP and related problems among adolescents aged 10-19 years.
Then, the specific objectives of the paper are to establish the perspectives of adolescents on EM and EP to find how these issues affect girls’ education in order to make relevant recommendations for policies and meaningful interventions. Consequently, both qualitative and quantitative data were used.
Qualitative data come from interviews of adolescents (15 in each site) and victims (22) of EP and EM from Kaolack and Gossas to capture their perceptions and experiences. Quantitative data were collected through a household survey from 1183 adolescents aged 10-14 and 1085 adolescents aged 15-19. All the interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim into MS-Word documents and coded using Dedoose while quantitative data were collected via Survey CTO then analyzed through R software. According to the findings, 8.5% and 6.1% of adolescents respectively in Kaolack and Gossas were never enrolled in formal school. Early marriage was experienced by more girls in Gossas (12.4%) than in Kaolack (8.5%) while the mean age at marriage in both sites was 17 years. 74% of married adolescents were either not enrolled in school or have dropped out of school. Regarding early pregnancy, results showed that 7.2% and 3.2% adolescents aged 15-19 years respectively in Gossas and in Kaolack were pregnant; 69% were unwanted pregnancies and 22% led to miscarriage.
According to the interviews with adolescents, the main drivers of child marriage and early pregnancy include poverty and essentially traditional values. Most of the adolescents are against CM and EP and are willing to get awareness information about puberty, CM and EP. These topics remain taboo in those regions and are seldom discussed with parents or family members, nor in schools. Victims of CM and EP regret the situation and would delay marriage and continue their studies. In addition, they would strongly discourage their younger siblings and would advise them to delay marriage and pregnancy. About the strategies and interventions to inform and advise them, adolescents showed strong interest and proposed to use television, social media, radio shows as well as physical meetings.
In conclusion, the findings point to the urgent demand to address issues of CM and EP, which are key barriers to girls’ retention and completion. To improve education for a more equitable world, girls’ specific needs should be taken into consideration all through the spectrum. Moreover, it is recommended to start education on puberty and related issues from last years of primary school while involving parents in awareness activities on girls ‘reproductive health and well-being. For a better world, there is a dire need to look at the issues of CM and EP that keep girls behind to make equity and equality in education a really and not a fantasy in Senegal.

Bibliography :
Klapper, Leon & Panchamia, Mansi Vipin. (2023). The high price of education in sub-Saharan Africa. World Bank Blog March 2023. https://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/high-price-education-sub-saharan-africa
IUS/UNESCO, 2020: https://uis.unesco.org/en/topic/education-africa

Author

• Barrel Sow Gueye, African Population and Health Research Center APHRC