{"id":184097,"date":"2021-03-22T17:50:04","date_gmt":"2021-03-22T15:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/securing-the-education-of-kenyas-girls-during-covid-19\/"},"modified":"2021-03-22T17:50:04","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T15:50:04","slug":"securing-the-education-of-kenyas-girls-during-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/securing-the-education-of-kenyas-girls-during-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Securing the education of Kenya’s girls during COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted<\/a> education in many countries. Similar to other epidemics \u2013 such as the Ebola crisis in West Africa which pushed about five million children<\/a> out of school in 2013 \u2013 the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the closure of schools in about<\/a> 194 countries. <\/p>\n

In Kenya there was a nationwide closure of schools between March 2020 and January 2021. This disrupted the education of about 18 million learners,<\/a> with a total of about 15 million children in primary and secondary schools. <\/p>\n

Evidence suggests<\/a> that the disruptions to education by the pandemic have negative consequences on already vulnerable students, such as those living within poor households, and girls<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This threatens the great progress Kenya had made in its education sector. <\/p>\n

For instance, overall, Kenya has achieved gender parity<\/a> in primary and secondary school. This masks disparities that exist in certain regions, though \u2013 in 23 counties, more boys attend school than girls. In addition, the transition from primary to secondary by both sexes increased by 12 percentage points between 2018 and 2019. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m an education specialist<\/a> and have done a lot of work on the education of girls and their transition to secondary school. I have concerns that the longer girls spend out of school, the more they are at risk of dropping out. <\/p>\n

The main reasons why girls may drop out of school include<\/a> poverty \u2013 which impairs the ability of the households to keep girls in school because they may need them to stay at home to work within the homes, and sometimes on farms \u2013 and opportunity costs, where households choose who to send to school. There\u2019s also the risk \u2013 when girls are at home for long periods of time \u2013 that they\u2019ll get pregnant as a result of<\/a> gender based violence. <\/p>\n

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education may cut back on the gains that Kenya has made in gender equity and inclusion. The government needs to respond to these issues holistically, and address the well-being of girls. <\/p>\n

Supporting girls<\/h2>\n

There are several strategies that the government must take. <\/p>\n

For girls who fall pregnant, the Ministry of Education should encourage school reentry. It was encouraging to see that the government is working on school reentry policies<\/a> not only to encourage learners to get back into the system, but to improve transition, retention and completion rates.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also vital that parents are involved in strategies as they are key to supporting the education of their girls. For instance, the African Population and Health Research Center \u2013 through the Advancing Learning Outcomes and Transformational Change<\/a> \u2013 is partnering with community-based organisations and local radio stations in urban informal settlements to deliver life-skills and parental counselling sessions to adolescents and their parents respectively. <\/p>\n

This means community resources can be harnessed to respond to the pandemic and the programme has been able to engage parents in support of their children\u2019s education.<\/p>\n

Remote learning<\/h2>\n

The government must also encourage strategies that support remote learning, such as online technologies, even as schools reopen for face to face learning. Educators should design activities with a longer term goal<\/a> in mind, rather than having short term measures. <\/p>\n

In May 2020, the Ministry of Education put in place a three-pronged approach<\/a> to remotely support learning:<\/p>\n