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In developing countries, attending school can be a

daily struggle for some children.

They may walk veral kilometers to school becau

their families do not have money to nd them on bus or

other forms of transportation.

With schools far away, and little money to pay for

transport costs, parents worry about the safety of their

children walking to school.

So, a number of parents keep their children at home. Or

the child drops out of school: they leave without pleting

their studies.

The and other barriers to school attendance are the

reality for many girls in poor countries.

But now, programs in two developing countries are

helping to change that. The programs are giving girls

“pedal power” -- transportation in the form of bicycles.

Power of the pedal

Rural areas of poor countries often have few condary

schools. So, it is mon for students there to travel great

distances to attend class.

Bihar is the poorest state in India. Niy percent of the

state’s population lives in rural areas.

Until xx, too many teenage girls in Bihar were dropping

out of school. For Nahid Farzana, her home was 6 kilometers

from school. And, her father did not have money for bus

fare, she told the Associated Press.

But, that same year, the state government began

offering bicycles to girls to help them get to school. The

program has been so effective that three nearby states are

now doing the same.

And the results are measurable. A xx study found that

giving bicycles to teenage girls in India incread their

condary school enrollment by 30 percent. It also helped

many of them stay in school long enough to take their final

exams.

Western Kenya is experiencing suess with a similar

program. Until recently, there was a high risk of local

girls dropping out of school and then being pregnant.

Loi Luno is a 16-year-old girl from Kakamega, Kenya.

In the past, she had to walk about 10 kilometers to reach

school. Last year, she dropped out temporarily becau of

the distance.

Members of her family work as subsistence farmers. They

earn just about $30 a month -- not nearly enough for food,

school costs and transport.

But, a few months ago, Luno went back to school –

this time on a bicycle. Her new form of transportation was

provided by World Bicycle Relief, an American-bad group.

Hurdles for girls

Christina Kwauk is an expert on girls’ education at

the Brookings Institution, a rearch organization in

Washington, D.C.

Kwauk recently told VOA that, in many countries, girls

face a long list of barriers to school attendance.

Sometimes, the issue is that a society has firm ideas

about what girls “can and shouldn’t do as they bee young

women,” including whether they should receive an education.

Luno experienced this. When girls in her munity

walked to school, motorbike riders would stop them on the

road. They would offer the girls rides to school. Then,

they would try to persuade the girls to drop out.

Kwuak says another reason girls may not attend school

is their family. Parents might believe that losing

children’s help at home can cau the family to lo money.

For example, a poor farming family grows less food

without the help of children. Girls are often expected to

do this work. In many cas, tho houhold duties include

taking care of younger brothers and sisters.

There are also direct financial barriers, says Kwauk,

such as school fees, books, and meals. So, in places where

families value boys more than girls, and parents have

little money, the boys are nt to school.

The ups and downs

Even with the suess of the bicycles programs, there are

still problems.

Ainea Ambulwa teaches at the Bukhaywa condary school

in Kakamega, Kenya. He belongs to a bicycle supervisory

mittee at the school. He makes sure that the riders are

keeping their vehicles in good condition.

Ambulwa says defeating poverty remains a difficult

issue.

He says that some families will put heavy things on the

bicycles and then they break down. Becau the family lacks

the money to have the bike repaired, the girl can no longer

get to school.

World Bicycle Relief is bad in Chicago, Illinois. It

provides bicycles through another group: World Vision.

In xx, the two groups launched a bicycle production

factory in Kisumu, Kenya. The cost of the bicycle is around

$180. That is too much money for most families in rural

Kenya.

But with the help of donors, the program has given away

about 7,000 bicycles throughout the country. Most of the

people receiving the bikes are girls.

Bicycles decrea the safety risks for girls becau

the girls get to school quicker, Kwauk explains. It also

helps parents not to lo work time taking their girls to

school.

Peter Wechuli, the head of the program in Kenya, says

the bikes have improved children's lives. But, he says, the

factory was built around 100 kilometers from Kakamega. So,

getting the bicycles to needy families can be a problem.

Yet Kwauk calls the bicycle programs “very promising”

and a low-cost solution. She says many organizations in

wealthier countries would be happy to provide this kind of

resource.