[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 74 (Monday, May 19, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H4211-H4212]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        McGOVERN-DOLE PROGRAM CAN HELP ARAB STATES EDUCATE GIRLS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, last week the United Nations issued a 
report that some eight million primary school age children remain out 
of school in the Arab states, and 5 million of them are girls. The 
report also found that, when given the opportunity to go to school, the 
girls tend to have to repeat grades less often than boys and to 
complete their primary and secondary schooling more often.
  The report covered 19 countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, 
Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, 
Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen and 
the Palestinian Territories.
  The report also reviewed overall literacy rates in these countries 
and found that one-third of the men and one-half of the women are still 
illiterate in the Arab states.
  Iraq had the highest overall illiteracy rate of 61 percent, and 
Jordan was the lowest. The countries where female illiteracy are the 
highest are Iraq, at 77 percent, Yemen with 76 percent, Mauritania with 
71 percent, and Morocco at 65 percent.
  Mr. Speaker, we have long known that there is no greater key to 
economic development, lower birth rates and strengthening democracy 
than the education of girls. This result has been well documented by 
the World Bank, USAID and independent education and development 
organizations.
  As part of our reconstruction efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and 
throughout the Persian Gulf and the Arab world, the United States and 
the international community must emphasize the education of girls and 
the involvement of women in development decisions.
  A proven method of increasing the numbers of girls who enroll and 
attend school is to provide meals in schools. The U.S. Department of 
Agriculture has a program with a proven track record of success in this 
area, the George McGovern-Robert Dole International Food for Education 
Program, formerly known as the Global Food for Education pilot program.
  A recent evaluation of the GFEI pilot program demonstrated its 
success at attracting more girls to school as well as involving their 
parents in their education.
  Once the girls are at school, clearly we need to make sure they 
receive a good education, which we help promote through several USAID-
funded education programs, carried out by a wide array of governments 
and non-governmental organizations.
  But, first, we must encourage families to send their daughters to 
school; and the McGovern-Dole program is a proven program to attract 
girls, as well as the boys who are not currently enrolled in school, 
and to help them be better prepared to learn and study by providing a 
daily nutritious meal in the school setting.
  We all know that hungry children do not learn as well as their well-
fed counterparts. We know this from our own experience here in the 
United States and from studies done around the world.
  This is the strength of the McGovern-Dole program. It attracts 
children to school by offering meals, and then increases their ability 
to learn by providing them at least one nutritious meal at school.
  I have seen first-hand in many parts of the world how this school 
meal is often the only food many children can count on every day and 
that the school may be their only stable reality in a world of chaos 
and uncertainty.
  Mr. Speaker, I have focused my remarks today on the Arab states, but 
gender inequity and education and child hunger are global issues. Bad 
as the statistics cited for the 19 Arab countries, matters are even 
worse in parts of Africa and Asia, and our response must also be 
global.
  The GFEI pilot program was initially funded at $300 million. Last 
year, over 70 bipartisan members of this House and every single Member 
of the other body called upon the administration to provide at least 
this amount of funding in fiscal year 2004 for the McGovern-Dole 
program.
  I urge my colleagues on the Committee on Appropriations to make sure 
that the McGovern-Dole program is fully funded at $300 million in 
fiscal year 2004. I further urge the committee to provide additional 
funds for the McGovern-Dole program and ensure that it is an integrated 
part of reconstruction efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere to 
increase the number of girls attending school and to decrease the 
incidence of hunger among children.
  Mr. Speaker, I include the following for the Record.

Education in the Arab States: Five Million Girls Still Denied Access to 
                                 School

       Paris.--Some eight million primary school-age children 
     remain out-of-school in the Arab States and five million of 
     them are girls, according to a new report published by 
     UNESCO. However, it finds that when given the opportunity to 
     go to school, girls tend to repeat less than boys and to 
     complete their primary and secondary schooling more often.
       Prepared by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, the Arab 
     States Regional Report surveyed education in 19 countries--
     Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, 
     Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, 
     Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, 
     United Arab Emirates, and Yemen, as well as the Palestinian 
     Autonomous Territories--with a total population of 270 
     million people, 39 percent of whom are under the age of 14.
       It covers the 1999/2000 school year and consequently does 
     not take into account the damage to education systems 
     resulting from the conflicts in the Palestinian Autonomous 
     Territories and Iraq, both of which, the report found, had 
     reported relatively high levels of participation in 
     schooling.
       The report recognizes that ``considerable investments'' 
     were made in education throughout the region over the past 
     four decades and, as a result, many countries were close to 
     the objective of getting all children into school. However, 
     it also finds that gender parity (equal enrollment rates 
     among boys and girls) had only been achieved in the 
     Palestinian Autonomous Territories, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon 
     and United Arab Emirates. Compared to other regions, the Arab 
     States had better gender parity in terms of access to primary 
     school than countries in Francophone Africa.
       According to the report, 35 million children, 54 percent of 
     them boys, attended primary school in the 1999/2000 academic 
     year. This leaves nearly one child in five of primary age 
     (one girl in four) still out-of-school. Djibouti was at the 
     bottom of the ladder for enrollment, with only 30 percent of 
     its primary-age children in school. It also had the biggest 
     gap between enrollment rates of boys and girls in primary 
     school, with only slightly more than 35 percent of primary 
     age boys in school and just over 26 percent of girls.
       On the other hand, the report shows that in all countries 
     except Sudan, girls are less likely to repeat grades than 
     boys in primary school. Regionally only six percent of girls 
     repeated a year, as against nine percent of boys, although 
     these figures mask big differences between countries. Jordan, 
     for example, had the lowest overall rate of repetition (one 
     percent), and Tunisia the highest (16 percent).
       More than 90 percent of primary pupils throughout the 
     region completed the primary cycle, however, girls had a 
     slight edge in most countries except in the United Arab 
     Emirates, where 93 percent of boys completed primary school 
     compared to 92 percent of girls.
       At the secondary level, states the report, some 22.5 
     million students of all ages, or 60 percent of the population 
     of secondary school age (approx. 12-18 years), were enrolled 
     in the survey year. Of this total just under 10.6 million, or 
     47 percent, were girls. Once again, these figures masked 
     substantial differences between countries, and the report 
     notes that participation rates in secondary education were 
     considerably lower than primary schooling.
       According to the report, primary pupils were most likely to 
     make the transition to secondary school in Bahrain (98 
     percent), Jordan (97 percent), the Palestinian Autonomous 
     Territories (96 percent), United Arab Emirates (96 percent), 
     and Oman (95 percent). In Algeria and Tunisia, the report 
     found that only two out of every three pupils made the 
     move from primary to secondary school.

[[Page H4212]]

       The report found that proportionally more girls than boys 
     of secondary school-age were enrolled at this level. For 
     example, 87 percent of secondary school-age girls were 
     enrolled in Bahrain, as against 77 percent of secondary 
     school-age boys. In Jordan, 78 percent of girls in this age 
     group were enrolled, compared to 73 percent of boys in the 
     same category.
       As with primary education, girls also outshone the boys in 
     all 13 countries that provided the relevant data, although 
     the report signals that repetition rates at secondary level 
     were generally high from both sexes. In Algeria, 31 percent 
     of boys repeated compared to 24 percent of girls. In Tunisia, 
     20 percent of boys repeated against 17 percent of girls. And 
     in Saudi Arabia, 12 percent of boys repeated and only six 
     percent of girls.
       Each of the countries involved has at least one institution 
     of tertiary education. The report noted that, ``a great many 
     students [. . .] go abroad to complete their training,'' 
     either to Europe and North America or in other Arab States.
       During the survey year, some five million students were 
     enrolled in tertiary courses, of home just over two million, 
     or nearly 40 percent, were women. Women's participation in 
     tertiary education was markedly less than that of men in 
     Iraq, Djibouti, Morocco and the Palestinian Autonomous 
     Territories.
       Social Science, business and law are the most favoured 
     subjects, and accounted for one third of students in the 
     Palestinian Autonomous Territories. In Saudi Arabia, 50 
     percent of tertiary students chose education as their field 
     of study, compared to only two percent in Morocco and 
     Lebanon. Least favoured subjects were agriculture and 
     services.
       According to the report, a large proportion of the teaching 
     staff through the region are women. They account for three-
     quarters of teachers at pre-primary level and 52 percent of 
     primary teachers. Their numbers fall considerably at the 
     territory level: data were not available for the survey 
     years, but in 1998/99, they made up only 25 percent of the 
     tertiary teaching force.
       The majority of these teachers, according to the report, 
     were qualified. The only country where this was not the case 
     was Lebanon, where, for example, only one primary teacher in 
     five met national-defined pre-service qualification 
     standards.
       Pupil teacher ratios vary greatly through-out the region, 
     ranging from a low of 12 primary pupils per teacher in Saudi 
     Arabia to 45 in Mauritania. The median for the 15 countries 
     that supplied data is 23 pupils per teacher. 
       Private enrollments are very low in the majority of 
     countries, except in Lebanon (66 percent in primary and 53 
     percent in secondary) and the United Arab Emirates (45 
     percent and 32 percent, respectively).
       Public spending on education varies greatly from country to 
     country. With 9.5 percent of its GDP devoted to education, 
     Saudi Arabia is the region's biggest investor in education, 
     followed by Tunisia (7.5 percent). On the other hand, the 
     United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Mauritania allocate only 
     two to three percent of GDP to education. Percentages for the 
     other countries range from 3.4 percent in the Syrian Arab 
     Republic, to almost five percent in Morocco.
       These figures represent a big increase in education 
     spending through the region over the past four decades. This 
     investment ``has paid off'', states the report: between 1960 
     and 1985 the time children spent in school increased by an 
     average two and a half years.
       The report also notes the number of women participating in 
     the labour market greatly increased over the past 20 years, 
     ``although in general they have lesser-paid jobs than do 
     men.''
       Nonethless, it found that one man in three and one woman in 
     two was still illiterate in the Arab States. Iraq had the 
     highest overall illiteracy rate (61 percent) and Jordan the 
     lowest (12 percent). The countries where female illiteracy 
     rates were highest were Iraq (77 percent), Yemen (76 
     percent), Mauritania (71 percent) and Morocco (65 percent).

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