Oxfam Girls' School in Ethiopia

(supported 2002 - 2005)

Give Girls a Chance funded school fees and living expenses for 5 destitute
girls from war and AIDS ravaged rural communities to attend post-secondary courses that enable them to support  themselves and their younger siblings. The girls have now graduated…and all have good jobs!

< Class of Grade 5 girls and by Grade 8 (below) there is only one girl

Obstacles to Education in Ethiopia

• tradition and cultural attitudes that girls belong at home, not at school

• girls are required at home to care for siblings and parents, many of whom are dying from AIDS

• when parents are able to scrape the money together for school (tuition, uniforms, books) they educate the boys first

• discriminatory attitudes, practices and behaviours

• curriculum, teaching methods and gender bias in books

• many girls are required at home to tend to fields

• some girls are married off as early as age 14

• in many areas a Bride Price is paid to the parents of the girl