Education in crisis: why girls will pay the highest price in the Covid-19 pandemic

Disruption to learning only exacerbates existing inequalities, leaving girls more vulnerable to abuse and poverty

A schoolgirl receives lessons via WhatsApp in the district of Port Bouet in Abidjan
A schoolgirl receives lessons via WhatsApp in the district of Port Bouet in Abidjan Credit: ISSOUF SANOGO / AFP

More than 1.5 billion children are out of school due to disruption caused by the global Covid-19 pandemic.

For some, there's a risk of falling behind; for girls from the poorest backgrounds across the world, it could mean watching their futures disappear. 

At least 91 per cent of students across 191 countries have already been affected by school closures, according to the Unesco-backed Global Education Coalition, which warned that continued disruption will exacerbate existing inequalities and increase the likelihood of many children never returning to the classroom.

While the loss of learning will be experienced in different ways in different countries, it is girls from the most poverty-stricken communities who are most at risk of falling through the cracks, said Heather Simpson, Chief Program Officer of non-profit educational organisation Room to Read.

“We know that with school closures, girls, especially in low-income communities, are at higher risk of increased gender-based violence, early marriage and a higher rate of [child] pregnancy,” Ms Simpson told The Telegraph. 

“All of this together is very concerning. For many of them, their future is disappearing or taking a really dark turn.”

Even before the pandemic, Unicef found that at least one in three adolescent girls from the poorest households had never been to school. And in countries affected by conflict, that statistic is even graver, with girls more than twice as likely to be out of school than girls living in unaffected countries. 

Losing out on an education is one of the major drivers of gender inequality, which in itself is a major cause, and result, of hunger and poverty. The World Food Programme estimates that 60 per cent of chronically hungry people are women and girls.

Without urgent action, experts are worried that Covid-19 will only compound this global problem.

History repeating itself?

Around the world, at least 750 million girls are currently out of school. While some consequences, such as the loss of learning, will be felt immediately, the long-term effects of Covid-19’s disruption to education could be felt for generations.

When the Ebola outbreak raged through Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea in the summer of 2014, teenage pregnancy spiked as incidents of coercion and sexual assault soared.

A study by the United Nations Development Programme found that in Sierra Leone, teenage pregnancy increased by 65 per cent due to the socioeconomic conditions imposed by Ebola.

“We know from working on health crises such as Ebola that when girls are out of school, they face a  greater risk of sexual abuse, exploitation and early pregnancy, while the added burden on household finances makes early and forced marriage much more likely,” Rose Caldwell, Chief Executive of Plan International UK said. 

Early pregnancy can make staying in school almost impossible.  

After the Sierra Leone outbreak , Amnesty International found that pregnant girls and young mothers were often (and still sometimes are) prevented from taking tests, publicly shamed by their own teachers or excluded from school all together. 

This loss of learning forced more girls to stay at home and had a knock-on effect on their future earning potential and thus their chances at a better life, said Ms Caldwell.

“On top of this, disease outbreaks inevitably add to the burden of unpaid care and domestic work, which typically falls to girls and young women. As a consequence, girls may find it harder to home study than boys,” she said.

“Sadly, many will never return to school, harming their life chances and entrenching gender inequality."

But there is a solution...

Earlier this year UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore called on all countries to address the obstacles that continue to prevent the poorest children from accessing quality education.

“If we invest wisely and equitably in children’s education, we have the best possible chance of lifting children out of poverty by empowering them with the skills they need to access opportunities, and create new ones for themselves,” Ms Fore said.

The UN reports that every additional year of primary school increases girls' eventual wages by between 10 and 20 per cent. It also encourages them to marry later and have fewer children, and leaves them less vulnerable to violence.

However, with many schools predicted to be shut until at least the end of summer, the focus has now turned to helping children to learn remotely during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’re working to find new and immediate ways for children to keep on learning even when they can’t go to school, whether they’re in remote communities, slums or refugee camps,” said Plan's Ms Caldwell.

Disparities in distance learning are particularly evident in low-income countries. With nearly 90 per cent of students in sub-Saharan Africa without access to household computers and 82 per cent unable to get online, teachers are now relying on low-tech and no-tech approaches to make education more inclusive for all.

“We're creating and distributing learning materials both physically and online, helping teachers deliver distance learning via radio and TV, and supporting parents and caregivers to provide a safe home environment for both learning and play," Ms Caldwell said.

The good news is that in countries and communities already set up with schools or learning centres, the foundation for education will remain in place to take back students once lockdowns are lifted.

“The physical infrastructure in this type of emergency is not getting damaged,” said Room to Read’s Ms Simpson.

“The Covid-19 pandemic is not similar to a natural disaster that sweeps away buildings or an armed conflict where potentially the militants are bombing schools or things like that.”

Instead, the biggest challenge across the world will be ensuring families are financially stable enough to send their children back to school. This is where economic incentives will be key to ensuring children – and in particular girls – are able to re-enrol in education, she says.

“Education is a fundamental human right and that human right does not disappear even as these schools are closed for a prolonged period of time," Ms Simpson said. "Having some economic relief really takes the burden off and allows children to claim their right to learn.

“[In the past] some countries have waived school fees. In other places, governments have offered conditional cash transfers where on the condition that their girls and their boys go back to school.”

Plan International and a number of other charities, including Room to Read, hope to work with local governments and officials to ensure that access to learning becomes a top priority after the Covid-19 crisis comes to an end.

“We’ll be supporting these efforts through campaigns to encourage families to re-enrol their children, with messages to communities on the importance of education for all,” said Ms Caldwell. “We mustn’t let children’s education become another casualty of the coronavirus crisis.”​​

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