MIT Solve

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Our Solution

The Girls Gap Year Program - A Year ON not OFF

Our solution's stage of development:

Pre-Seed

Our solution:

The gap year project seeks to intervene on behalf of poor girls in Ghana affected by delays in their education and provide them a secure and viable option that will put them back on track to academic completion.

Our pitch:

In 2013, the national government of Ghana enacted policy that changed the number of years for secondary school from 3 years to 4 years. This decision has had, and will continue to have, serious implications for students in Ghana, especially poor females.

Poor females in Ghana are affected by a lack of investment in their education as compared to their male counterparts, which means they have to work in order to save before starting college. In addition, girls suffer from lower exam scores making admission into the next level of education more difficult. Accordingly, with the re-emergence of 3-year education, a typical female must wait anywhere between 1-2 years before entering the next stage of her education. During this wait, girls often to veer off course in irreparable ways.

Yet, there exist no real alternatives for the girls affected by them. The gap year project seeks to intervene and provide them a secure and viable option that will put them back on track to academic completion.

The gap year project allows girls to propose, plan and implement their own projects with respected local organizations while receiving intensive test prep needed to gain admission to the next level. This project seeks to produce the following changes for participating girls: 1) To raise the test scores of girls in Ghana so that they are more competitive candidates for SS and college, thus promoting academic excellence 2) To provide them with job skills and leadership training exposure that will give them skills their male counterparts tend to have already 3) To reduce the likeliness of girls who end up pregnant, in relationships or discontinuing their education by providing a viable alternative income and activity 4) To provide students with first hand exposure to mentored project planning, thereby facilitating extended networks.

The problem:

During the forced gap year, girls get discouraged from applying to college and are often fall victim to early marriage and pregnancy. Their families, many of which are already uncertain about the value of education, lose sight of the end goal as the girl student may begin to contribute to the family full time as a petty traders or as wives. In short, when students are forced to take a gap year, girls suffer. The Gap Year Program seeks to resolve this by providing girls with test prep, employment and professional mentor-ship during that year.

Why our solution will solve the problem:

Research on African girls found that 1 in 10 miss 5 to 6 days of school a month for a plethora of gender based responsibilities (UNESCO 2012). These are the same responsibilities that make them vulnerable to never return to school once they are forced to take a gap year. Of the 12 girls I followed in Ghana, only one enrolled in college immediately following graduation. Once we provided scholarships and programming, 8 enrolled the following year. With support, we can investigate this further and do more.

Who recommended you to Solve - or - how did you find Solve?

Dabesaki

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