Girls’ Education – will it hit the reset button amid COVID?

Women, especially girls play a critical role in the social fabric of the world. Educating girls is one of the most powerful and proven vehicles to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It has a positive impact on at least 9 of the 17 SDGs, be it healthcare, immunization, child marriage, HIV, income generation or inequality, among others, because an educated girl is twice as likely to educate her children.

Girls’ education is the key to breaking the intergenerational cycle of illiteracy and poverty. Globally, girls’ education is the biggest lever that can influence a reduction in global carbon emissions. 

An educated woman has the skills, information and self-confidence that she needs to be a better parent, worker and citizen. Research shows that an educated woman is likely to marry later and have fewer children, impacting the world population. An educated woman can help a country with its socio-economic growth, and reduce domestic and sexual violence incidences as well. As she stands up against gender inequality, she becomes the key to changing patriarchal mind-sets.   

However, despite the many positive implications of girls’ education, millions of girls around the world are being denied their right to education, simply because they are girls. Their chances of getting a quality education are smaller if they come from a poor family, living in a rural area. Girls are just disregarded. The root cause of girls not being in school are the two P’s of Poverty and Patriarchy, they are exploited, discriminated against or just pushed into disparate gender roles. Over the years, Educate Girls has undertaken a huge effort to change these gender roles and community’s behaviour by shifting mind-sets towards girls’ education.  

Impact of COVID-19 on girls’ education 

With the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 crippling global education systems, existing gender inequalities are getting further intensified. As cases of Coronavirus continue to grow, the effort to limit its spread has kept over 290.5 million students out of school globally.

In the absence of education, and connection with friends and teachers, disadvantaged children, especially girls from the most marginalized communities will be the hardest hit; especially in nations where patriarchy, illiteracy, and poverty are combining to trigger regressive mind-sets. Over 111 million of the girls affected by the school closures are living in the world’s least developed countries where getting an education is already a struggle. As the COVID-19 situation aggravates further, girls will face the worst economic and social marginalization. Disrupting global education systems is literally threatening the right to education of the most vulnerable girls. 

Girls in rural India

In India, the spread of the virus has already hurt marginalized communities disproportionately. As the household work burden increases for all the families, girls are regressing to their earlier routines – taking up cooking, cleaning and other household chores, while caring for their younger siblings, elders; working on farms, grazing cattle and doing activities that can help their families survive through these tough times. With limited health facilities at the rural last-mile, those affected, yet not critical, are being cared for at home, putting the girl child at greater risk of becoming infected. 

As families lose livelihoods, face scarcity of food and other basic needs, girls’ health and education, their learning requirements and well-being are getting sidelined. Based on their gender, girls get to eat last. With no access to mid-day meals in schools, as families struggle to buy ration, girls’ nutritional needs will be unmet, impacting their physiological development. Increasing pressure to care for their families will have a direct impact on their emotional growth. As patriarchal families return to their earlier gender norms of girls working within households, they will prevent them from going back to school, affecting their learning levels in the long-term. 

With families staying at homes amid economic hardships, incidences of domestic violence, drunk behavior and child abuse are rising. If this persists, the risks of child marriage, physical and sexual exploitation of girls, trafficking, unhygienic and unhealthy lifestyle will continue to surge drastically. Stuck in this situation, girls will continue to lose confidence and feel demotivated to return to mainstream education, further pushing them into deeper vulnerability. 

Educate Girls’ response to this educational crisis

As the pandemic unfolds, Educate Girls is taking immediate measures to mitigate these emerging risks through its long-term relationship with rural communities and a strong workforce of 14,000 Team Balika volunteers. As India observes the three-week lockdown, wherever possible, our field coordinators and the Team Balika, in partnership and close coordination with the local government functionaries are supporting relief efforts through the distribution of ration, food packets, masks and sanitizers. They are also helping to create greater awareness on measures to prevent the transmission via phone calls, WhatsApp messages, posters and speaking to community leaders and families on how to keep children engaged through various learning activities. Finally, keeping families updated on the various COVID relief measures announced by the government and the processes to avail them.

Educate Girls has also instituted an internal COVID relief and welfare taskforce that is gathering information on the struggles faced by the rural communities in the three states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

The way forward 

While a coordinated policy effort by way of communication, quarantine and treatment is a must to contain the adverse impact of this pandemic, there is an urgent need to ensure that the needs of the most vulnerable communities, especially the girls are taken into consideration. For that to happen, all countries of the world need a strong gender lens on how to build a holistic response to COVID-19 that includes relief measures from both economic and societal angles. Without intentionality, girls will regress to patriarchal mind-sets, far away from education. They will be the first to be forgotten and pushed further to suffer hunger and violence as the pandemic grips the world.