A two-day national conference on ‘Gender Equality in Education’ ended today with a five-point Kathmandu declaration. The conference that had Girl Education and Gender Equality Network as the organiser demanded assurance of gender-friendly planning at the school level, village level and district level to provide education to girls. It said the respective districts should formulate plans, followed by implementation and regular monitoring to ensure gender equality in terms of education. It also sought the need of special support programme for the capacity development of girl students, female teachers and women members of each School Management Committee.

The conference stressed that timely identification of problems by regularly disseminating information will help mitigate problems facing girls’ education. It also appealed to the government to provide enough financial support for girl education and gender equality.

As many as 150 representatives, including gender contact persons from 30 District Education Offices, the Education Ministry, gender contact officers from ministry’s line agencies, professional organisations of teachers and International Non-Government Organisations attended the conference.

Concluding the conference, social worker Pushpa Basnet, who was recently conferred CNN Hero of the Year-2012, said she was only able to open a child care centre for children of incarcerated parents due to her education.

She said, “Parents should educate girl children rather than giving them dowry during their marriage to ensure their bright future.”

source: The Himalayan Times,20 Dec 2012