In 1998, boys sit with their books open in a class at the Al-Bainia Primary School - where classes are separated by gender - in the village of Al-Bainia, approximately 110 km from the town of Hodeidah, in southern Yemen.
UNICEF/HQ98-0973/Giacomo Pirozzi
Around the world, more girls than boys miss out on education. But in some countries, such as Colombia, Haiti, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mongolia, Suriname and the United Republic of Tanzania, it’s the boys who are absent. For example, in Colombia only 67% of all boys are enrolled in secondary school, compared to 74% of all girls.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, boys generally get lower grades than girls, and in some countries, they’re more likely to skive. In industrialised countries too, like Britain, boys often don’t do as well at school as girls do. The government’s latest test results for 11 year olds show that boys are scoring 12 per cent less than girls. Boys from poorer backgrounds are less likely to do well at school.
The reasons boys fall behind at school are complicated. It may be because boys are given more freedom at home, or that the way society teaches them to behave means they’re more likely to get in trouble at school. Also, although developing countries tend to have more male teachers, there are more women teachers in industrialised countries, especially in primary schools.
Gender-sensitive schools are places where all children can flourish – the UNICEF supported ‘Education For All’ programme focuses on this aim, working towards achieving gender equality in education globally by 2015.