Report Shows Encouraging Progress in Girls’ Education

    As the world prepares to mark the 100th anniversary(周年纪念日) of International Women’s Day on March 8, a new report details the progress and challenges girls face in getting an education.
    The report – from the Education for All Fast Track Initiative – highlights the importance of girls’ education for economic and social development.  It follows progress in Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Mauritania, Mozambique and Niger.
    Prema Clarke, author of Fast-tracking Girls’ Education, says, “Progress for girls’ education is that they can leave their homes, leave their families and come to a place to study and to learn.  And that’s a big achievement(完成,达到) because otherwise these girls have to stay at home.  Look after their siblings¹.  Do the cooking.  Do the cleaning.”
    She says progress toward the Millennium² Development Goals and those of Education for All “is allowing and enabling girls and forcing countries to look at this issue and to ensure that interventions³ help girls attend school.”
    Benefits Improving education for girls brings many benefits, says Clarke.  “It means that girls can then enter the workforce⁴.  That they can look after their own families much more effectively.  That they can prevent child mortality.  They can educate their own girl child when they begin to expand their own families.”
    Studies show that having an educated female population helps to improve a country’s health and economic well-being⁵.
    WarningsThe report says, “In developing countries, too many girls are not in school, and many girls face continuing health risks, harassment⁶ and danger just walking to class.
    “Especially in the fragile and post-conflict countries and in many of the African countries this is a real issue,” she says.  Till now, the interventions have been so focused on providing schooling⁷ and providing teachers, etc.  And now I think there is much more expanded focus on looking at specific communities of girls within at-risk groups that now need much more specific attention and much more creative solutions to help them attend school.”
    The report calls for “girl friendly policies.”
    These, she says, include “mobilizing communities to send their children to school; targeted financial(财务,财政) support; the creation of school, health and feeding programs for girls.  [And] gender⁸ sensitive teacher development.  That’s a very crucial issue.”
    Clarke says male teachers often discriminate⁹ against girl students.
    “They expect the boy child to do much better.  So, to enable teachers to understand what it means to encourage and help the girl child to learn is very important.”
    The report also says girls need to be in a safe environment at school and this includes having the use of restrooms for privacy.
    “Then there are, of course, laws and policies that support girls’ education, like clear sanctions against violence, against sexual harassment, drug abuse and employing children,” she says.
    Post conflictCountries that have gone through conflict can pose special challenges to improving girls’ education.
    “I know South Sudan really well.  And I think there the real problem is there are so few women teachers.  So I think there will have to be very targeted incentives¹⁰ for women to join the teaching force, to improve the skill level and knowledge of women teachers already in the system.”
    Communities, she says, also need to be educated about the importance of sending girls to school.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

2 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

3 interventions   

n.介入，干涉，干预( intervention的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
• The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网

4 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

5 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

6 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

7 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

8 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

9 discriminate   

v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待

参考例句：

• You must learn to discriminate between facts and opinions.你必须学会把事实和看法区分出来。
• They can discriminate hundreds of colours.他们能分辨上百种颜色。

10 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法