Mothers and aunties are strong advocates for girls' education in Naima's village. Women in Zawiya Ahansal spend March through October, from sunrise to sundown, working the fields and tending to livestock, often with babies swaddled on their backs and young children to care for.
Women are the primary homemakers, as the husbands frequently leave villages in search of work. Women are acutely aware of the benefits of girls' education; although fewer hands will help with home labors while girls are in school, it will result in more income to hire services and resources.
"Few girls from my village have completed primary school because
they cannot afford the fees. The girls who drop out work all day in the fields
and at the river until they get married and move to another village."
School fees can be prohibitive, but they aren't the only barrier to girls' education in Zawiya Ahansal. Many children drop out of school because they cannot pass their exam scores from year to year. School is not always in session, and the remote nature of government schools does not attract the most experienced or dedicated teachers. Students need additional academic support outside of the classroom so they can continue their educations, especially if they want to go past the sixth grade.
"My aunties never went to school. But now they go to a new program
for women in my village. They want to learn how to read and write, and how
to make sure they raise healthy families."
This spring, Iqra Fund launched the region's first women's community health and education awareness days in each of Zawiya's four main villages. For the first time in regional history, women had a collective voice. They shared their needs and hopes for their future and the future of their families. They also participated in a community health workshop that addressed the basic sanitation and hygiene skills the women requested. Future programs will be developed based on local women's requests from year to year.
"There is a new program for me, too. I walk to the nearby village almost every day to go to the tutoring program so I can be more successful in school. My dream is to continue my education and work hard at my studies."
Naima was one of the first girls who attended Iqra Fund's new tutoring program run by a local teacher. As of last year, only a few girls graduated the sixth grade, with dozens dropping out before they had the opportunity to complete primary school. Iqra Fund supports children's success in primary school in the region so they can continue their education to secondary school and beyond. Iqra Fund also supports girls like Naima achieve their dreams of going to secondary school, with an Iqra Fund girls' scholarship program launching this summer.
