Drumming up support for girls’ education

Gatsibo – Over 10,000 people have committed themselves to advocate for girl child education across the country. The campaign, Amaboko Hejuru, is part of a global four-year campaign dubbed ‘Because I am a Girl’ which is championed by Plan International. It is aimed at reducing barriers to girl child education.At the conclusion of a seven-day sensitization exercise in Gatsibo, volunteers asked residents to join the campaign by committing through written statements to help eradicate barriers to girl child education.According to Katherine Nichol, a Gender Specialist, Plan International, the campaign was part of the preparations for the International Day of the Girl Child slated for October 11.Nichol told The New Times that the seven days they spent in the campaign around the country was amazing, adding that it gave hope for the future of a Rwandan girl.“People were receptive and eager to speak of their personal experience … they want a change that would see a girl child into education. This is the bottom line,” she said.“There is gender inequality all around the world, and Rwanda is not immune…however, the difference is that Rwanda is doing relatively well in forging a change,” she said.According to Nichol, giving a girl-child education is a question of justice that the world will never escape.Margareta Mukakibibi, 46, a mother of four boys and two girls, said the sensitisation was still needed, noting that traditional beliefs still stood in the way of a girl-child education.He said that such campaigns should be heightened in rural areas, where traditional beliefs were deep-rooted.“We must be sincere to ourselves…we all understand that it’s good to send a girl-child to school, but we still have beliefs that a boy should get priority. It is a sad reality that girls do most of domestic chores and are left with little time for school, unlike boys,” she lamented,Plan International has been working in Rwanda since 2007.

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Drumming up support for girls’ education