African Girls, Education, and COVID-19: International Day of the African Child 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has strained healthcare systems and forced schools to close in almost every country in the world. While governments seek to control the pandemic and teachers scramble to reimagine lessons and assignments for a remote learning framework, the stakes are much higher on the African continent. According to Uzma Alam, “large-scale prevention measures that have worked in other countries such as frequent hand washing, limiting movement and social distancing are not enough, or at best impractical for addressing the pandemic in the African context. Barriers to such measures include large informal settlements, lack of appropriate water and sanitation, and high concentrations of marginalized communities.”[1]
African Children Face Additional Health Risks
“The COVID 19 pandemic is ravaging the world indiscriminately - but a combination of medical, political and societal factors means the coronavirus presents a particular set of complications for children in West Africa,” according to the World Economic Forum.[2] The symptoms of malaria and sickle cell anemia (SCA) are very similar to those of COVID-19, making infected children difficult to identify and isolate. SCA is a chronic disease specifically problematic in Africa (75% of cases are diagnosed there), and children with SCA who contract COVID-19 face greater risks. In addition, limited tests are available and children are tested less frequently than adults because their symptoms are often milder.
COVID-19 is putting immense pressure by rapidly increasing demand to already fragile and overwhelmed healthcare system across Africa.[3] According to World Health Organisation Africa suffers more than 22% of the global burden of disease but has access to only 3% of healthcare workers and less than 1% of the world’s financial resources.[4] Quickly spreading COVID will take scarce resources from every sector of the healthcare systems of African countries.
The Collateral Impacts of COVID-19 are Intensified in Africa
Girls reported to the organization that they felt “bored, frustrated, alarmed, and frightened and they need clear information on the pandemic and support to deal with how it’s impacting them and their families.”[5]
As is the case with any infectious disease outbreaks, children face multi-dimensional risks, including exposure to the infection, indirect risks to accessing education and healthcare services as government political priorities and funding are focused on minimizing contamination, as well as direct risks to their overall care and protection.[3] With one of the youngest populations in the world, the African continent is exposed to many of the collateral impacts of the COVID-19, including education, safety, hunger and malnutrition, and increasing extreme poverty.[6] Girls, in particular, suffer disproportionately during crises, facing many threats to their safety and ability to remain in school.
School Closures: Remote Learning in Africa
“The teachers didn’t give us any homework during this lockdown,” she said, looking up from her maths exercises. “I haven’t learned much because I’m not connected online.” Phuti, 14 years old, South Africa[7]
As the Global Partnership for Education reports, “in sub-Saharan Africa, only 11% of households have computers, only 18% have a household internet connection, and 26 million students are not covered by mobile networks.”[8] Efforts to provide online instruction to children without computers or internet access are limited, television and radio broadcasts being the most prominent. However, as CAMFED reports, “Many students in the communities we serve do not have electricity, reliable/affordable internet, or television; nor do all communities have access to radio. Their options for remote learning are extremely limited, putting them at an even greater disadvantage.”[9] Remote learning widens the gap for girls in Africa and puts the most marginalized children at even greater risk of not succeeding in school.
Access to remote learning isn’t the only issue COVID-19 has brought to the forefront. Many, many experts are voicing their concerns that when schools reopen, a substantial number of girls in Africa will not return to their studies.
Education, Poverty and Family Priorities
“My fear with this virus [COVID-19] is that women will really suffer. We will suffer over food. Men will abuse us. Because if I don’t have food and a boy has food, if I ask him for help, he will ask me for sex before he gives me some. This is the suffering I am talking about.” Janet, 14 years old, Liberia[5]
Girls in Africa face an uphill battle when it comes to education. In sub-Saharan Africa, 33.3 million girls of primary and lower secondary school age are out of school. This number rises to 52.2 million when taking into account girls of upper secondary school age.[10] Poverty; hunger; household chores (including fetching water and caring for younger siblings); and child/forced marriage, female genital mutilation, and early pregnancy all keep African girls out of school. In a recent report the Malala Fund estimates that, “10 million more secondary school-aged girls could be out of school after the crisis has passed.”[11]
Crisis situations intensify the pressures girls face. When caregivers are out of work and incomes are dwindling the incidences of child/forced marriage, gender-based violence (including household violence, female genital mutilation, and rape), and risky behaviors to earn income all increase dramatically. “Following the Ebola outbreak and school closures in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, enrolment rates for girls dropped. Increased rates of poverty, household responsibilities, child labour and teenage pregnancy as well as restrictive school policies prevented many girls from returning to the classroom.”[6] (In most parts of Africa once a girl is married or pregnant she is no longer welcome in school.)
A Call to Action
“I am afraid that health workers might not find the cure for COVID-19 and the world will continue to be locked down.” Praise, 13 years old, Liberia[5]
Many girls understand the potential impacts of COVID-19 on their schooling and futures. They know that without school they are less protected, less safe, and their options for the future become very limited. We need to work together to insure that girls return to school when the schools reopen. As the Brooking Institute declares, “We have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to transform education and reimagine the way students learn, so that when schools reopen, they are more gender-responsive and inclusive, help all students to learn, look after all students’ health and well-being, and are digitally connected.”[12]
[1] “Study Predicts COVID-19’s Impact Across Africa” https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/24397/
[2] “COVID-19 poses some unique challenges for Africa's children” https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/covid-19-poses-particular-challenges-for-african-children/
[3] “COVID-19 Impacts on African Children: How to Protect a Generation at Risk” https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/pan_african_policy_paper_8th_june_-_final%20%281%29.pdf
[4] “Medical doctors (per 10 000 population)” [interactive] https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/indicators/indicator-details/GHO/medical-doctors-(per-10-000-population)
[5] “Living Under Lockdown: Girls and COVID-19” https://plan-international.org/publications/living-under-lockdown
[6] “COVID-19 could reverse gains made for African children, warns Save the Children” https://reliefweb.int/report/world/covid-19-could-reverse-gains-made-african-children-warns-save-children
[7] “Two girls' lockdown learning underlines South Africa's educational divide” https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-safrica-education/two-girls-lockdown-learning-underlines-south-africas-educational-divide-idUSKBN23B1OK
[8] “Leading community action for vulnerable girls” https://camfed.org/latest-news/african-women-leading-community-action-vulnerable/
[9] “Girls and Young Women at the Frontline of COVID-19” https://camfedorg2015.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/files/CAMFED-girls_and_young_women_at_the_frontline_of_covid-19.pdf
[10] “When you educate a girl, everything changes” https://camfed.org/why-girls-education/
[11] “Malala Fund releases report on girls’ education and COVID-19” https://malala.org/newsroom/archive/malala-fund-releases-report-girls-education-covid-19
[12] “5 actions to help bring the most marginalized girls back to school after COVID-19” https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2020/05/15/5-actions-to-help-bring-the-most-marginalized-girls-back-to-school-after-covid-19/