By Adama Kone, Teacher Project Manager

One of Mali Rising’s main goals is to make sure girls have the same chance at education as boys. My co-worker Hindaty leads our very successful Girls’ Project, which implements many strategies to get girls into school and help them succeed there. As part of that work though, we realized that we can’t ignore the role boys could play in helping their sisters — that’s where I come in!

In the villages where the Girls’ Project is active, I meet with the boys of the middle school several times a year. We discuss obstacles to girls’ education and ideas for how the boys could serve as allies to help overcome those obstacles. I’m always impressed with how seriously the boys take the discussion and the insights they share!

For example, I recently met with the boys at Ross and Marlilou Moser Middle School. Girls enrollment has been very low in this village, and Hindaty just started working with the girls, parents and teachers to change that. I was excited to do my part by hosting the first boys’ meeting.

Most of boys realized there were fewer girls than boys n Ross and Marlilou Moser Middle School. According to the boys, parents neglect girl education in their village because they think girls cannot find jobs as easily as boys can. The boys also mentioned that parents think girls cannot do certain jobs. In addition, some parents are poor and prioritize paying boys’ school fees instead of girls’ fees. Some parents even keep girls too busy doing chores at home to attend school. Lastly, the boys noted that some parents think when it time for girls to marry, the girls will just abandon school anyway.

This boy’s group clearly knew the obstacles to girls’ education, but they were also eager to suggest solutions to the problems. The boys said they could talk to their parents help them understand the importance of girl education by telling them that their sisters could do the same jobs as them like becoming lawyers, teachers, doctors, fire fighters, or policewomen. The boys also said they could encourage other boys to support girl education because girls are their sisters and they deserve good education.

The boys then got even more creative by suggesting that the teachers and the principal could be useful by holding meetings with the whole village and discuss the obstacles to girl education. The boys think that could make bigger difference and parents could take teachers opinions more seriously than their own.

At the end of our meeting the boys agreed to become allies to their female classmates by supporting them and advocating for their education. I think the big test will be seeing if the boys reduce their teasing of the girls at recess though…although that might be taking allyship too far for 13 and 14 year olds!