Only four and half months ago in April, a report by UNESCO generated great hope regarding girls’ education by showing them performing as strongly as boys in the classroom although there were plenty of barriers holding them back. Now a sense of despair grips the world with the release of another report by UNICEF ahead of next week’s United Nations Transforming Education Summit warning that low levels of numeracy proficiency, particularly among girls, are undermining children’s ability to learn, develop, and progress. The UNESCO report had said that although boys perform better than girls in the early years, this gender gap disappears in secondary school – even in the world’s poorest countries. “Girls are doing better than boys in reading and science and are catching up in mathematics,” the 2022 Gender Report had said. Despite this progress, UNESCO had warned that gender “biases and stereotypes” would continue to affect girls’ schooling, as boys “are far more likely to be over represented” at the top level of maths, in all countries.
Now the UNICEF report “Solving the equation: Helping girls and boys learn mathematics” says that girls worldwide are lagging behind boys in mathematics, with sexism and gender stereotypes among the root causes. The report raises the alarm on how issues of sexism and gender stereotypes have undercut the potential of girls in the classroom. The report reveals in headline terms that boys are up to 1.3 times more likely to get the math skills they need compared to girls. UNICEF has tweeted that no girl should be left behind. “We must help every child learn the foundational skills they need to succeed in school and life,” it read. The report has also warned about false expectations, negative gender norms, and stereotypes often held by teachers, parents, and peers regarding girls’ innate inability to understand mathematics, which is contributing to this disparity. This means Girls are ‘failed by discrimination’ and ‘stereotyping’ not by their inability – a fact that has been highlighted by both the UNICEF report now in September 2022 and the UNESCO report of April 2022. These stereotypes are projected onto young girls and often undermine their self-confidence, setting them up for failure, the UNICEF report says, further noting that learning maths at a young age strengthens memory, comprehension, and analysis, in turn improving children’s ability to create. It also warns that children who do not master basic maths and other foundational learning may struggle to perform critical tasks in the future.
Data from 79 middle and high-income countries show more than a third of 15-year-olds have yet to achieve minimum proficiency in mathematics. These statistics reveal the depth of educational issues plaguing all genders. Household wealth is also a determining factor. The report notes that schoolchildren from the richest households have 1.8 times the odds of acquiring numeracy skills by the time they reach fourth grade than children from the poorest households. UNICEF has called for all countries to urgently implement the RAPID actions needed to recover learning: Reach every child; Assess learning levels regularly; Prioritise teaching the fundamentals; Increase the efficiency of instruction, and Develop psychosocial health and wellbeing.
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