The reasons are often related to poverty or traditional beliefs and practices -in some cultures, girls 'education is regarded as less important than boys; the female role remains tied to marriage and child-rearing, and girls are often given household and childcare duties instead of an education. Sometimes parents remove their daughters from school at puberty fearing sexual harassment by a pupil or teacher, an unwanted pregnancy, or early marriage, or because there are no toilet facilities. Over-aged girls often cannot enter formal school.

Educational costs, such as fees, uniforms and books, often deter parents from educating girls; sending a daughter to school means she cannot work to earn money.

Even if they do attend school, many girls fall behind because of poor educational quality, gender discrimination in schools, and in curriculum choice and learning materials as well as bias in teaching methods and teachers ' attitudes. National indebtedness or low priority for education funding can mean too few school places or inadequate facilities (such as lavatories),leading to exclusion of girls.