Unesco report on PH education: Girls better than boys

THE United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) in its Global Education Monitoring Report released on April 27 showed that Filipino girls are doing better than boys in mathematics.

According to the new publication, the Philippines and two other Southeast Asian countries saw girls outperforming boys in mathematics.

Unesco's annual gender report analyzed data from 120 countries to get a global picture in early education where boys do better in primary but the gender gap disappears in secondary. Similar results hold true even for third world countries.

In Malaysia, girls by age 14 perform better in math than boys by 7 percent, Cambodia by 3 percent and the Philippines by 1.4 percent.

Unesco warned that gender biases and stereotypes still likely affect girls' schooling as boys are "far more likely to be overrepresented" at the top level of mathematics in all countries in the study.

Data from Southeast Asia also showed that girls perform 18 percent better than boys in reading in Thailand. In the Dominican Republic it is 11 percent and in Morocco, 10 percent.

Saudi Arabia showed the largest gap in primary education where 77 percent of girls as against 51 percent of boys in the fourth grade (ages 9 to 10) achieve minimum proficiency in reading.

Unesco also pointed out in the report that countries like Norway and Lithuania where girls and boys have the same level of reading proficiency in the early grades, but by the age of 15, girls are ahead of boys by 15 percent.

Cited by Unesco, Malala Fund co-founder Malala Yousafzai said, "Girls are demonstrating how well they can do in school when they have access to education. But many, and particularly the most disadvantaged, are not getting the chance to learn at all. We shouldn't be afraid of this potential."

"We should feed it and watch it grow. For example, it's heartbreaking that most girls in Afghanistan do not have the opportunity to show the world their skills," she added.

"Although more data is needed, recent releases have helped paint an almost global picture of gender gaps in learning outcomes right before the pandemic," Unesco Global Education Monitoring Report Director Manos Antoninis said.

"Girls are doing better than boys in reading and in science and are catching up in mathematics. But they are still far less likely to be top performers in mathematics because of continuing biases and stereotypes. We need gender equality in learning and ensure that every learner fulfils their potential," he concluded.

Source: TheManila Times