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(Special for CAFS) African experts mull gender-sensitive education system

Xinhua, December 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

African experts on Monday met at the African Union (AU) Headquarters in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa for a workshop on capacity building on education and gender.

The three-day workshop, which has brought together education experts from AU member states, aims at identifying effective strategies that will pave the way for a gender-sensitive educational system on the African continent, according to AU.

The event has been organized by the International Centre for the Education of Girls and Women in Africa (AU/CIEFFA), a specialized institution of the African Union which has as one of its objectives to build the operational capacities of member states on girls and women's education issues.

The Institution is at the forefront in materializing aspiration 6 of the Africa's Agenda 2063 aimed, among others, to take advantage of the potential of the African women and girls by ensuring that their access to education is guaranteed in African countries.

Indeed, statistics show that out of 75 percent of girls starting schools, only 8 percent finish on the African continent.

In the same vein, the Education for All (EFA) Global monitoring report for 2013-2014 underlines that in sub-Saharan Africa, only 23 percent of poor girls will have completed primary education by the end of 2020.

Addressing the participants of the workshop, Febe Potgieter-Gqubule, Deputy Chief of Staff at the AU Commission, said the gender approach and education are key priorities of Agenda 2063, the 50 year continental development framework.

The Deputy Chief of Staff also highlighted that addressing the gender socialization issue in Africa's schools would provide a better education system that would significantly contribute to unlock Africa's development potential. Endit