Topic: Educational Rights of Girls
Country: Brunei
Delegate Name: Danielle Falling
School: Forest Hills Northern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Brunei position papers GLIMUN 2013 committees
Darussalam has celebrated National Women’s day for over 100 years. The purpose of this day is to promote equal access to education, training, and science and technology. For enrollment of students in secondary school 32% more are female compared to male. To not allow or not promote access to education to half of the population is to cut off an extremely beneficial and necessary part of society. As a country, Brunei has chosen to enact the Compulsory Education Order which means that every child over the age of six must be in primary education for at least nine years. This free service is provided to anyone who is registered in here.
Brunei is a conservative Islamic nation that actively encourages the rights to education for all of it’s population. There is a common misconception within the general non-muslim public that all Islamic countries actively dissuade the education of girls. This is an entirely false notion. Islam states that everyone is equal. To say that people who are equal should be given less of an opportunity to learn and to thrive is not in the best interest of anyone.
With the gender neutral education policies in place the education of women has increased dramatically in the last decades. This is proven statistically when compared to earlier times: in 1947 the literacy rate for females was 8.3%; in 1973 it was 73.3%; and in 2010 the literacy rate is 95%. This shows that with a firm education policy in place results will follow. Now in Brunei the workforce is made up of 58% women- there is no coincidence between the education of girls and the healthy workforce made up at this point of predominantly women.
Education for girls is something important, not only to Brunei Darussalam, but to the entire world. When you refuse to educate half of your society you refuse to help all of your society in the present and future. It has been proven that girls who are educated can better raise children, can get jobs that enormously boost the economy, create a healthier next generation, and overall create a more stable global society.
