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Learning and resources on gender in education
Understanding and challenging boys' disadvantage in secondary education in developing countries
The debates surrounding gender issues in education have largely concentrated on the aspect of female disadvantage. The emergence of boys’ disadvantage in secondary education adds another and a fairly new dimension to the issue of gender disparity and inequality in education. Although the issue has caught attention in some countries and a number of writings have appeared in the popular media, it ...
The debates surrounding gender issues in education have largely concentrated on the aspect of female disadvantage. The emergence of boys’ disadvantage in secondary education adds another and a fairly new dimension to the issue of gender disparity and inequality in education. Although the issue has caught attention in some countries and a number of writings have appeared in the popular media, it is yet to become a subject of serious research in most countries, especially in the developing world. Based on whatever could be accessed in the public domain, this paper attempts to review the extent, nature, causes and consequences of boys’ disadvantage in secondary education in some developing countries, and to identify policy responses as well as other good practices in challenging such disadvantage. The paper is largely based on six country case studies while using relevant evidence from other developing and developed countries as well.