Imagine the life of a girl child in a remote village in India during COVID-19? A little girl bound to home fighting a double pandemic; one that is restricting her from stepping out and the other of inequality in education within her own home.
UNESCO report on inclusion in education shows 40% of the poorest countries did not provide specific support to disadvantaged learners during the pandemic. Fewer than 10% of countries have laws that help ensure full inclusion in education, according to UNESCO’s report- all means all. The report identifies an exacerbation of exclusion during the pandemic and estimates that about 40% of low and lower-middle-income countries have not been able to support disadvantaged learners during temporary school shutdown.
Key factors that cause the exclusion of learners in education systems worldwide include background, identity, and ability (i.e. gender, age, location, poverty, disability, ethnicity et al.).
The pandemic is not just a public health emergency. It has also disrupted the social systems and the fragile immunity of our society against inequalities. Amongst the most affected groups during the pandemic; women and girls top the list. As the cases of domestic violence against women have risen; young girls’ education is also getting derailed. Some are getting lost in household chores; others at vulnerable age are facing the pressure of early marriage due to the gap year.
It is estimated that nearly 10 million secondary school girls in India could drop out of school due to the pandemic, putting them at risk of early marriage, early pregnancy, poverty, and violence.
A Decline In The Focus On Girl Child Education
Not applying a gender lens while designing the school operations during the pandemic is risking to push female education back by decades.
India’s efforts on girl child education were finally starting to pay off. “In India, access to education for girls has improved tremendously over the last seven decades. India’s female literacy rate has risen from 9 percent during Independence to about 65 percent in 2011. Primary-level female gross enrolment ratio (GER) rose from 61 percent in 1970 to 115 percent in 2015, almost seventeen percentage points higher than male GER. At the secondary level, female GER rose from 14 percent in 1970 to 75 percent in 2015, narrowly exceeding male GER,” says a Forbes Report published on July 13, 2020
However, the report also points out the lack of focus on Girl Child Education during the pandemic can lead to undoing the progress India has made in the field in the past 70 years. It signals at disruptions in funding, inadequate school nutrition, access to schools, and increasing unemployment rates being the catalysts towards declining focus.
The Patriarchal Society: Lack Of Mobility For Girls
The education of millions of girls in the aspirational districts of India is at risk. Their enrolment and dropout rates have experienced a great setback amidst COVID-19. School is a space that provides more accessibility to resources and mobility to girls, as compared to their homes.
Nearly 40% of adolescent girls in India were already out of school and forced to stay at home. Due to the closure of schools, every child is at home but the girl child has lost the freedom that she had in school.
Women and girls take on the majority of unpaid domestic and childcare tasks, which increases when schools and workplaces close and people are confined to their homes. At home, she first nurtures the family; her education doesn’t become a priority.
The health risks for girls who can no longer attend school are not limited to the virus itself. School, for a girl child, is not just a place of education, it is a place of safety as well. Home confinement means there is a heightened risk of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Data shows an alarming rise in domestic violence cases; more than ever seen in the past ten years.
The Digital Disparity: Lack Of Access To Technology At Home
At home, a girl is burdened with additional household chores, with lesser access to technology than the boys in the family. Around 50% of India does not have access to the internet. Even if they have access, connectivity does not ensure activity.
“Connectivity doesn’t always equalize opportunity. Digital divides can mirror broader societal divides – between rich and poor, cities and rural areas, between those with or without an education – and between women and men,” says UNICEF report titled ‘The State of World Children, 2017′. According to a report in 2016, only 29% of the internet users were female. This digital disparity needs to be addressed in order to work towards building a ‘new normal’ for girl child education.
The Pressure Of Getting Married Seeding From Migrant Crisis And Unemployment
Most families in the aspirational districts of India have lost their means of livelihood during the pandemic. “It is estimated that about 20 percent of girls are not going to come back to school after lockdown. Most of the girls from families of migrant workers are in the vulnerable age where they are likely to get married.” Professor Amita Rampal, Educationist, Delhi University.
Not just early marriage, the early pregnancy of adolescent girls will become a permanent barrier for her education.
Need For A Gender-Responsive Education Strategy
The lockdown has emphasised the need to re-evaluate our education system to make it more inclusive. There is an urgent need for a gender-responsive education strategy that support girls’ pathway from education to employment through learning opportunities while keeping them safe both in and out of school. The gender digital divide needs to be overcome in order to ensure the digital learning of the girl child.
There is a need for producing a gender-sensitive data related to the crisis. Women’s opinions need to be considered while making school operations plan during and post COVID. At the community level, women’s networks should be used to organise the response to the crisis. These networks should be used to encourage girls to continue learning during and after crisis. Men and women should be encouraged to share childcare and household work. We need to create safe spaces for the girl child in every community.
The changemakers and pioneers in Education need to come up with localised campaigns and models to ensure that no girl child is left behind and education is built back equal post the pandemic.