Africa-Press – Angola. The First Lady of Angola, Ana Dias Lourenço, highlighted this Monday, in Abuja, Nigeria, the Executive’s commitment to inclusive and equitable education, with the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all.
To this end, he clarified, when speaking at the launch of the “WeAreEqual/We Are All Equal” Unifying Campaign, that Angola managed to correct, in the last three years, the discrepancy of 3,216,489 students, to 2,536,412 female students.
According to Ana Dias Lourenço, since 2021, 10,357 primary and secondary school teachers have been trained in menstrual health, and more than 30,000 teenagers have benefited from information on the subject and 15,000 menstrual underwear have been distributed.
He said that in the last four years, 21 thousand 244 scholarships for secondary education were distributed, of which 10 thousand 729 went to girls.
In recent years, he said, 1,098 primary and secondary schools have been built and rehabilitated.
“With the girls’ empowerment and learning for all project, the construction of 55 new schools and the rehabilitation of seven schools are expected to begin in 2024,” he reinforced.
He highlighted the investment in teacher training in education and menstrual health as relevant.
He explained that it presented positive results and earned distinction from Angola at the gala in reference to the 10th anniversary of the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) program to safeguard adolescents and young people, having been ranked 1st in the menstrual health category. of the 5th and 6th classes, at the level of the southern region.
Gender equality
The First Lady recalled that as patron of the Ngana Zenza Foundation for Community Development (FDC), she remains committed to gender equality and committed to improving the quality and expansion of education, empowering girls and boys in communities
He mentioned that these initiatives are also aimed at women, young people, in particular young women from various segments of society as agents of change and influence in their respective communities.
He welcomed the “We are all equal” Campaign because gender issues and their parity in leadership continue to be a matter of action.
He announced that Angola embraces the Campaign and will soon launch it and continue to advocate for the promotion of educational programs in Africa in “the year 2024, seeking to revive existing efforts to fully achieve Goal 4 of the SDGs.
Reality of Angola
Regarding the prospects, he said that Angola has seriously invested in reducing disparities between men and women imposed by structural sexism, social stereotypes and patriarchal structures rooted in cultural and traditional issues.
Given the existing vicesitudes, he underlined, education is vital for the future of any country.
“In Angola we treat education as a crucial sector for the valorization of human capital. We take particular care with the education of girls, as educating a woman is educating a Nation”, he emphasized.
He admitted that in the country, at different levels of education, there are still differences between men and women, but the Government has seriously invested in reducing this difference.
She recalled that as Minister of Planning and later member of the Board of Directors of the World Bank Group, an approach was initiated to overcome the challenges related to low learning results and gender disparity
He stated that these inequalities exist mainly in secondary education, due to girls dropping out of school for various reasons such as early pregnancy, or socially unfavorable family contexts.
Their African counterparts present called for strengthening advocacy to teach girls literacy and catch up on school delays, with special attention to those in rural areas.
He highlighted that the continent urgently needs to promote trust, security and stability through the creation of safe, secure and stable environments and sensitize youth to significant progress in development and growth.
At the invitation of her counterpart from Nigeria, Olumeri Tinubu, Ana Dias Lourenço participates in the event held under the motto “Education, a powerful tool for change: no girl should be left behind”.
The campaign is an initiative of the Organization of African First Ladies for Development (OPDAD) and aims to contribute to eliminating the gap between men and women, focusing on education, equity and learning opportunities for all.
With it, the aim is to expand the “Alternative Secondary School for Girls” in all African States, in an initiative that began in 2007, and which offers a second opportunity to young women who were left out of the education system for adverse reasons.
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