Between heaven and hell, and education is the salvation? : how adolecent girls understand the importance of secondary education and what they expect from it. A case from Uganda.

Abstract

This study emphasises girls' education as an agent for national development and gender parity in secondary education. The study is based on a fieldwork conducted in the districts of Kampala and Jinja in Uganda in September/October 2005. The theoretical framework used is based on the discourse of education and national development pointed out by authors like Fägerlind and Saha (1989). I draw lines from this discourse and connect it to the discourse of girls' education and development. In the analysis I compare the interviewed girls' expectations to education with the world community's expectations. The study emphasises the importance of girls' accessing and finishing secondary school, arguing that if girls are to develop their nation they need more schooling than primary education. However, the expansion of secondary education should not be at the expence of the quality of education, since the quality is the determiner of education being an agent for development.