By Wezi Tjaronda WINDHOEK Sixty girls from five secondary schools in the Khomas Region are participating in a mathematics and science holiday school programme to improve their performance in the subjects. The programme is in response to the poor perfor-mance of particularly girls in science and mathematics and was organised by the Forum for African Women Educationalists Namibia (FAWENA) and sponsored by Project Lilie, which is funded by the German-speaking community in Namibia. Among others, Namibia’s chapter of the organisation that operates in 32 African countries aims to increase access to education, advance the quality of education of girls in Africa and promote science and mathematics subjects, among girls. In her motivational speech to the girls at the opening of the holiday school, Khomas Region Education Director, Claudia Tjikuua, urged the girls to be determined, work hard, be well behaved and committed to their work for them to be counted as ideal citizens. Although some parents still rather prefer their boys to continue with education than girls, Tjikuua said the situation should not deter them from excelling in their studies. She noted that some pa-rents preferred boys to girls because girls fall pregnant and leave school, which amounts to a waste of their limited financial resources. Statistics indicate that more girls than boys enroll in primary school but as they progress in the later years of their secondary education, girls start to lag behind. In 2004 for instance, there were 28 907 learners in Grade 10 of which the majority of 15 361 were female and 13 546 male. But as they progressed to Grade 12, the situation changed with 6 873 being female while the majority 7 121 were male. Tjikuua said the situation changed because girls dropped out – they fell pregnant or failed due to some obstacles in their way. Despite these shortcomings, the director said the government is committed to ensuring that girls excel in education because it has made education a right for every child. “It is up to the learners to remove obstacles, move forward and become successful and ideal citizens,” she added. She also urged the girls not to lose their purpose in life. FAWENA is the Namibian chapter of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), a pan-African NGO founded in 1992 to promote girls and women’s education in sub-Saharan Africa in line with the policy of Education for All. With headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, FAWE has a network of national chapters in 32 countries, which are expected to have capacities in four areas including policy analysis and advocacy. Its strategic objectives are to influence policy formulation, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation in favour of increasing access, improving retention and enhancing the performance of girls. The organisation also aims at raising public awareness and consensus on the social and economic advantages of girls’ education through advocacy.