Asia-Pacific girls, disabled miss schooling

AID agencies have to improve the provision of basic education services to girls and disabled children in the Asia-Pacific region, a report by an aid advocacy group says.
The latest report by Results International Australia, titled Education for All, said education programmes delivered by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Australian government agency for international development (AusAID) had to reduce discrimination against gender and disability.
The report analysed education programmes by the three organisations in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines.
Results national manager Maree Nutt said the report disclosed that disabled children were discriminated against in gaining access to education. Girls’ access to education had improved.
AusAID and the ADB had improved their delivery of educational services to girls, while the World Bank was lagging in implementing robust gender policies.
“Access to education has improved for girls in Indonesia and the Philippines, but for children with a disability, the situation is dire,” Nutt said.
She said hundreds of thousands of children in the region lacked access to the basic opportunities Australians took for granted.
“Education is the most powerful tool at our disposal for fighting poverty,” she said.
“It’s especially important that we put that tool in the hands of girls and children with disability.”
Work was adequate in improving girls’ access to education in Indonesia and the Philippines. Papua New Guinea however remained a problem, the report said.
Agencies should make basic improvements to ensure all parts of the population had access to aid money. – 9 News