CEDAW/C/BRB/CO/5-8 (b) Conduct awareness-raising activities for politicians, community leaders, the media and the general public on the importance of the participation of women in decision-making, in order to enhance understanding that the full, free and democratic participation of women on an equal basis with men in political and public life is a requirement for the effective implementation of the Convention and the political stability and economic development of the country; (c) Increase the participation of women in political and public life at all levels, including through the adoption of statutory quotas, in accordance with article 4 (1) of the Convention and the Committee’s general recommendation No. 25; (d) Build the capacity of, and enhance access to campaign financing for, women candidates to enable them to compete effectively with their male counterparts. Nationality 29. The Committee remains concerned that, some provisions on nationality in the State party’s legislation notwithstanding, although such rights are possessed by Barbadian men, there are no constitutional rights for Barbadian women with regard to the following: (a) The transfer of nationality to a child born outside of the State party to a Barbadian woman who was not born in Barbados; (b) The right of Barbadian women to transfer their nationality to their foreign husbands. 30. The Committee recommends that the State party amend its Constitution to grant Barbadian women equal rights with men regarding the transmission of their nationality to their children or to their spouses of foreign nationality, in line with article 9 of the Convention. Education 31. The Committee notes with appreciation the high literacy rate among women. It also welcomes the achievement of gender parity at the primary and secondary levels of education, as indicated in the report entitled “Barbados: Education for All 2015 National Review”. Nevertheless, the Committee notes the following with concern: (a) The high school drop-out rate among adolescent girls at the secondary level of education, which is often owing to early pregnancy, the absence of a written policy on pregnant students in schools, the compulsory expulsion of pregnant girls from schools after five months of pregnancy, which reinforces negative stereotypes, and the lack of measures taken to ensure their re-entry and retention in school following childbirth; (b) The fact that, notwithstanding the information provided by the State party’s delegation on the ongoing initiatives of the Ministry of Education to end corporal punishment in schools, as well as its cooperation with the United Nations Children’s Fund, since 2010, on the positive behaviour management programme in schools, corporal punishment is culturally accepted and widely practised in schools; (c) The concentration of women and girls in traditionally female -dominated fields of study and their underrepresentation in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics; 8/14 17-11292