By Mariz Tadros Eleven-year-old Somaya dropped out of school because she just didn't like being stuck in class all morning. If you press her, she will say she could make at least LE3 a day picking okra in the fields -- and her family needs the extra money. Mohamed, 12, left school because he wanted to earn some money to help his mother, brothers and sisters. He managed to get a job in a carpenter's workshop. Sanaa, aged 14, dropped out when she got engaged, and her 19-year-old fiancé didn't want her to go to school anymore. He is illiterate, and didn't see any point to it; her parents reluctantly agreed, what would an education achieve anyway? Mariam dropped out after finishing primary school, because, although she was doing very well and had got high marks, the preparatory school was an hour away from her house. She didn't mind, but her parents did. What would the neighbours say -- a young girl on her own going in and out of the village every day? Besides, it might not be safe. Many others have never even been into a school. Yet a study conducted by the American University in Cairo's Social Research Centre seems to belie these anecdotes. According to Sahar El-Tawila, the principal researcher on the team, interviews conducted with girls and boys nationwide show conclusively that work and marriage were rarely stated by boys and girls respectively as reasons for leaving school. "The result [of the research] undermines long-established beliefs and stereotypes about Egyptians placing work and marriage high in the order of major factors competing with education," says the study. "These may be options for those who have already left school, but they are not the impetus behind their decision to leave," adds El-Tawila. Next in order is the low value placed on education by adolescents and/or their parents. El-Tawila adamantly dismisses poverty as the top reason for dropping out. "Being poor may prevent a girl from actually going to school in the first place, but it is not a likely reason for her to drop out. According to the study, girls and boys stated "not doing well at school" as the main reason why they decided to quit. A striking finding is that, when it comes to preparatory school, the gender gap favours girls. By the time students reach preparatory level, boys are more likely to drop out than girls if they live in urban lower Egypt and urban Upper Egypt. Generally, one quarter of boys aged 10 to 19, as against only one third of girls, are out of school by that time. Around 40 per cent of adolescents from the low income group are not in school, either because they dropped out or because they have never enrolled. El-Tawila notes, however, that boys are more likely to enrol in school than girls. According to the study, the most disadvantaged groups are girls in the middle and low socio-economic categories, especially those living in Upper Egypt, be it rural or urban, and in rural Lower Egypt. Girls were found to be particularly sensitive to changes in their environment. For instance, the implementation of the structural adjustment programme and economic reform measures taken in 1987-1988 led to the re-introduction of school fees as a cost-recovery measure, of which girls were more likely to feel the sting of than boys. The study also pointed out that, although school entry age in Egypt is six years, only 41 per cent of all Egyptians in that age group are enrolled. The percentage rises to 90 per cent in the eight to eleven age bracket, which is why the study suggests raising the upper age limit for enrollment in primary schools from eight to ten years. Many students who have never enrolled school gave their age as a deterrent factor, adds El-Tawila. More importantly, stresses the study, providing literally "free" education for the vulnerable group is "a pre-requisite to close the file of deprivation from education, especially since the cost of education is not only confined to school tuition." Dr Ragab Sharabi, first deputy for basic education at the Ministry of Education, said he was pleasantly surprised by the declining rate of female school-leavers indicated by the study. He stressed, however, that "many girls and boys drop out because of lack of resources. In fact, if the rates of poverty increase, drop-out rates will increase too." He also rejected the idea that work and marriage are not the main reasons for girls and boys dropping out, as the study claims: "Just because these children did not mention these factors, it does not mean they do not count. Perhaps they are shy and do not want to talk to strangers about their personal lives." Sharabi, however, does support the contention that many don't like school and that this is enough of an impetus to make them give it up, "especially when some of the teachers and administration's treatment of these children is not what you would call exemplary". He also points out that, even if children do not see much reward accruing from their education, the social status associated with a degree will continue to be a potent driving force towards education. "If a young man wants to get married, his future wife's parents might look down upon him if he doesn't know how to read and write, even in the villages," Sharabi states. Interestingly, the study mentions that a high proportion of adolescents, 42 per cent, believe that the value of education lies in the acquisition of social status. Only nine per cent, on the other hand, associated education with higher financial status or a well-paid job. If the prestige of a certificate may convince many boys to stick with school, this may not be the case for girls, especially if they happen to live in Upper Egypt. Sharabi emphasises that "there are still very strong social traditions that prevent a girl from enrolling or continuing school. If the classroom is mixed, if the teacher is a man, if the school is too far away... these are very plausible reasons for not allowing her to go to school." A viable alternative to formal educational institutions is being offered to overcome these objections, he notes. The one-class schools programme, managed by the Ministry of Education under the auspices of Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, is supposed to be as gender-sensitive as possible, while also taking into account parents' fears for their daughters. One-room schools of 162 square metres are being built in remote villages. The room are supposed to be circular, with five blackboards and five grades being taught at the same time. The classes are for girls only, and free of charge. All the teachers are women from the community who have at least a secondary school degree and have received training for the task at hand. Girls can receive a primary school degree through this programme. "Statistics from last year show that girls who have been through the one-class system, even those who had dropped out before attending this programme, are often far better students than girls in the state schools," notes Sharabi. By the end of this year, about 3,000 such schools will have been built. This is scarcely enough, but Sharabi adds that the difficulty is the scarcity of land on which to build these schools in the rural areas. Prominent educationalist Hamed Ammar, like El-Tawila, insists that there has been significant progress made in enrollment, especially if current figures are compared to rates for. "In 1995-96, 94 per cent of all boys and 89 per cent of girls aged six to 11 were enrolled in school. In 1960, only 61 per cent of boys and 49 per cent of girls respectively were in school." Ammar cautions, however, that these rates drop significantly in the higher stages of schooling. According to Ammar, universal education in Egypt has been hindered by two main problems: first, the availability of school buildings and their proximity to students' communities; and second, lingering traditions that downplay the importance of education, especially for girls. Ammar believes that rising numbers of male school-leavers may be due to economic need. "There is a growing sense of disillusionment among poor families as to what education can do for their children. Everybody hears stories about PhD holders who are unemployed. So if getting your child through school doesn't guarantee extra income, why do it?" Ammar suggests that the government should accelerate its one-room school programme, offer children proper school meals, develop accessible health insurance schemes and provide financial assistance to impoverished families through the Ministry of Social Affairs. These steps, he suggests, will encourage parents to send their children to school. In a study on universal access to primary education in Egypt, statistician Nader Fergany found results very different from those presented by the Social Research Centre. According to his study, the gender gap has not narrowed; indeed, there is evidence of reduced access of girls from poor urban background to education. Fergany warns that figures used by researchers may be misleading since many students are in school on paper, but not physically. "For various reasons, including the protection of children's right to schooling, pupils' names are kept on school records when they have actually dropped out. The problem is, we just don't know how many of these 'paper students' there are," he notes. Fergany believes that the drop-out rate is higher in the urban areas for both boys and girls, and that the decrease in access to primary education in the cities is consistent with the suspected rise in child labour. In fact, according to Fergany, the number of children out of school has risen over the past five years. Declining access to primary education for both sexes in urban areas currently represents a pressing challenge, he warns. On the other hand, Fergany points out that the number of girls excluded from primary education in the six to ten age bracket exceeded 850,000, of which more than two thirds were in the rural areas. Eminent mathematician and education specialist Abdel-Azim Anis is also among those who argue that the principal obstacle to universal primary education is poverty. "For an impoverished Egyptian, to have to pay LE40 for a child to attend school is difficult. It is even worse when the parent has more than one child in school." Anis remarks that he takes the Social Research Centre's finding that the drop-out rate for girls is on the decline "with a grain of salt. It seems to me, from what I keep on hearing from education workers outside Cairo, that poverty is putting a tremendous strain on the family, forcing many to send their girls out to work in the fields or keep them at home." This dilemma, says Anis, has been exacerbated by the new land reform measures. "Many farmers previously rented land, but it has been taken from them. They have to replace this income one way or another. One way is child labour, because there are not many other choices left." Anis believes that it is somewhat irrational to suggest that enrollment might be increasing and drop-out rates decreasing when poverty is on the rise. "Look at the case of Indonesia. It was undergoing a period of economic prosperity, all the children were at school, and the number of school-leavers was low. With the current economic crisis and the ensuing hardship for Indonesian families, half of the children have dropped out of school to work to supplement their families' income." photos: Antoune Albert, Khaled El-Fiqi and Ashraf Fares Related: A curriculum in crisis
