UNICEF opens two-day workshop on girls’ education in Liberia

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) opened a policy review workshop on girls’ education in Liberia today, bringing together some 50 participants to finalize a policy document aimed at promoting the full cycle of schooling by girls as the West African country recovers from 15 years of civil war.

“As we begin this very important review, I like to reiterate UNICEF’s vision that the education of the girl child in Liberia is critical and an urgent matter. It is actually about human rights and human dignity. It is about peace and the development of the country,” Angela Kearney, UNICEF Liberia Representative, said in her remarks to open the two-day workshop.

The workshop, which is being attended by representatives from Liberia’s Ministry of Education, County Education Officers, and other partners promoting the education of girls, was designed to present a policy document to stakeholders for review and for recommendations that will strengthen it and lead to its finalization, UNICEF said in a statement.

Ms. Kearney said the review would need to focus on the issues of modifying old values and attitudes while promoting respect for gender equality, on ensuring that early childhood socialization processes tackle gender discrimination and on making sure that that families and schools are sensitized to create new values and patterns of behaviour that support girls’ education. Attracting teenage and working mothers to schools was another issue that this review should address, she added.