MONROVIA, April 8 (LINA) - Gender, Children and Social Protection Minister  Julia Duncan Cassell has said girls’ education remains one of the top priorities of the Ministry to empower girls to contribute to national development.   

 
She pointed out that education is fundamental to Liberia‘s progress and human development.
 
The Gender minister made the observation Wednesday at a Policy Dialogue on “Reaching the Middle Income Country Goal; the Human Capacity Issues” organized by the Governance Commission held at local hotel in the Monrovia suburb of Sinkor.
 
She noted that there are no legal or constitutional barriers that prevent females from going to school in Liberia, but regretted that socio-cultural issues, reinforced by traditional practices hinder females in their quest to seek quality education.
 
The Gender Minister observed that a lot of progress has been made in getting Liberian girls in school, especially at the elementary school level.
 
 She, however, regretted that the proportion of female school graduates drops between junior, senior high school and college due to strong societal and gender norms.
 
A Governance Commission survey shows that the gender gap in education widens at the higher school levels.
LINA