Quality education cannot exist without gender equality. The concept of educational quality must take into account gender dimensions in all aspects of the selection, organization, and promotion of relevant and meaningful learning experiences for students.

There are presently 104 million children out of school with 57% of them being girls. Gender disparities in enrolment and attendance vary tremendously from one region to another and between countries in different regions. The Dakar Framework for Action (Paris, UNESCO, 2000, www.unesco.org/education/efa/ed_for_all/framework.shtml),and the Millennium Goals (New York, UN, 2000, www.un.org/millenniumgoals)

attest to the commitment of the international community at the beginning of the 21^st century to the elimination of gender disparities and inequalities in education - by 2005 and 2015 respectively.

While these ideals are commendable, the challenge is mammoth. Achieving gender equality is a far more complex task than eliminating disparity. “Full gender quality in education would imply that girls and boys are offered the same chances to go to school and that they enjoy teaching methods and curricula free of stereotypes, and academic orientation and counselling unaffected by gender bias. Most fundamentally it implies equality of outcomes in terms of length of schooling, learning achievement and academic qualifications, and more broadly, equal job opportunities and earnings for similar qualifications and experience.” (Gender and education for all: the leap to equality. EFA Global Monitoring Report 2003/4. Paris, UNESCO, 2003, p. 116)

Many countries are far away from offering education of such quality to girls and boys, men and women. If discrimination against girls remains pervasive in many societies, it is also true that the education of boys and men poses numerous difficulties.

Gender inequalities in educational provision reflect deep-rooted traditions and values within the ideological, political, economic, and socio-cultural fabric of societies. These will have to be addressed if attempts at tackling inequality in education are to succeed.

This forum discussion invites you to participate in a debate on what gender equality means and what may be done towards achieving it in your societies and communities. The following guiding questions will help to animate this debate:

1. What are in your opinion main concerns regarding gender and education and what gender-specific education issues can you identity for your own environment?

2. What is the role of teachers, parents and the wider community in promoting gender sensitivity and gender equality in education? How may these roles be enhanced?

3. What qualities are necessary for schools and other educational settings to be truly gender sensitive and what are innovative ways of achieving this?

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