By Adama Kone, Teacher Project Manager
In Mali, girls’ education is very challenging matter especially in rural areas. Although girls are often very interested in education, many of those around them may resist the idea. A girl’s parents or even her own brothers may not be supportive of the girl’s wishes to stay in school. That’s why Mali Rising’s work to help girls’ education can’t focus only on the girls – we must reach the parents and boys as well.
Through the Girls’ Project, Hindaty does a lot of work with parents. My role is to help with the boys – our girls’ brothers and peers in the classroom. Each year, we meet with boys in our Girls Project villages to lead them in discussions about girls’ education and to encourage them to help their sisters and fellow students.
Mohamed shares his thoughts on the chalkboard during a discussion about girls’ education and how boys can be allies for their fellow female students.
For example, I recently met with a group of 15 boys at the Trujillo Family Middle School in N’Tentou. This school is located in the Bougouni area about 180 kilometers south of Bamako. There are 34 boys and 26 girls at the school. For the last two years, the Girls’ Project has been working in the village with the girls and their parents to help girls get into school and stay there.
At my meeting, one young man was named Mohamed. Mohamed is 9th grade and he is about 16 years old. He likes school very much and wants to be helpful to his sisters at home and at school. Mohamed shared with me that he has 2 sisters at the Trujillo Family Middle School and he thinks it is really important that he helps them -- so he does his homework with them sometimes so that they all learn together.
According to Mohamed, there are many things in his villages of N’Tentou which make girls drop out or do poorly in school. He said that sometimes, girls get involved in early or forced marriage, or they have too much work to do at home and they cannot do their homework like the boys. Mohamed added that a girl gets pregnant, they usually drop out unless they are married. If they are unmarried, they become too shy about their physical appearance and drop instead.
After he learned in our meeting that boys and girls could all do well in terms of education and that they both have same rights including education, Mohamed showed determination and motivation to help girls. Mohamed believes that there is a solution to every problem. He suggested that parents should sensitized on helping girls stay in school until they are done. Mohamed‘s parents should know that his sisters could be just as helpful to them as Mohamed if they finish school and get good jobs.
Mohamed thanked Mali Rising for helping him to understand human rights, and that education is a human right for both boys and girls. He mentioned that this is something their parents need to know then be supportive to girl’s education.
