26 Nov 2015

Chairperson of the Parliamentary Caucus on Women, Ms Botlogile Tshireletso says leaders should focus on the precarious situation of education for girls and boys, young women and men this year through the 16 - days  of Activism Against Gender Based Violence campaign.

Delivering a statement in Parliament , Ms Tshireletso said as this year’s campaign starts, stakeholders should recognise the need to focus on all groups of people particularly vulnerable .

The theme for this year’s campaign is From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World; Make Education Safe for All.

Ms Tshireletso further said education was a good public and fundamental human right recognised in Article 26 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is upheld in various international and regional human rights conventions and treaties.

She said recent data shows that approximately 38 million people are internally displaced worldwide, while 16.7 million are refugees.

 She said young women and girls in particular are the most adversely impacted by insecurity and crisis, with the most recent estimates showing that 31 million girls at primary level and 34 million at lower secondary level are not enrolled in school and 15 million girls and 10 million boys will never see a classroom.

Ms Tshireletso further commended the Government of Botswana for making education free ad safe for all irrespective of gender as well as providing various initiatives that support the education system.

She called for everyone’s involvement during this 16-Days campaign to join the world in advancing the right to education and challenging violence, discrimination, and inequality in education at the intersection of gender, race or ethnicity, religion, real or perceived sexual orientation, socio-economic status and other social identifiers. Ends