Girls And Education.
A Vicious Cycle.

In most developing countries, public school is not free. The costs of books, uniforms, electricity and teachers’ salaries are borne by the students’ families. In China, for example, a family must pay between $75 and $260 a year for each child attending school.

While these costs may not seem like much by American standards, they are often enough to keep girls out of school. As a result, when a family is forced to choose between sending a son or a daughter to school, it is generally the daughter who remains at home. Poverty and traditional beliefs about the value of educating girls keep 90 million school-aged girls out of the classroom. Two-thirds of all children not attending school are girls. Lack of opportunity to attend school is reflective of a larger problem---the lower status of and historic discrimination against women and girls worldwide. Without an education girls are consigned to a life of poverty and limited choices. Most likely their daughters will also grow up without an education, and the cycle will continue.