Report highlights educational inequality
As many as one million schoolgirls could be blocked from re-entry to school because they have become pregnant during the Covid-19 pandemic, an international report has said.
The World Vision report, called Aftershocks – Access Denied, warned that girls who have become pregnant, many because of sexual violence, child marriage and lack of access to sexual and reproductive health services, will now lose out on future opportunities because policies and practices in some countries across sub-Saharan Africa do not allow pregnant girls or young mothers to continue their education.
Covid-19 has forced school closures in 194 countries, affecting nearly 1.6 billion learners.
Fiona O’Malley, Director of Communications and Fundraising for World Vision Ireland, said: “As millions of families across the globe are getting ready to bring their children back into school, up to one million girls across sub-Saharan Africa may not get that chance. Prolonged school closures during a humanitarian crisis can mean an increased violation of human rights, increased child marriage, sexual violence, and early pregnancy.
“Unfortunately, many countries don’t allow teenage girls to re-enrol if they become pregnant. In the developing world, a denial of education can lead to a denial of other basic human rights. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to more out-of-school children than any other region in the world. It also has the highest teenage pregnancy rates globally.”
Studies conducted during the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone showed that girls and young women were twice as likely to become pregnant than before. More than 14,000 teenage girls became pregnant during that time, including 11,000 who were in school prior to the outbreak and met with country-wide bans when they tried to return. Policies vary across the region from outright expulsion of pregnant girls to strategies that support the continued education of adolescent mothers.
Isabel Gomes, World Vision’s Global Director for Humanitarian Operations, said: “Denying girls their right to attend school means we are faced with a further crisis in girls’ education, unless governments and partners act now. We saw the decision to ban pregnant girls from returning to school after Ebola in Sierra Leone had grave consequences as these girls and their children faced fewer opportunities, greater health and well-being risks, and increased poverty and insecurity.”
Sierra Leone lifted its ban on pregnant schoolgirls in March 2020 and is promoting measures that will help ensure girls’ education after the Covid-19 crisis. World Vision has said that governments must take Sierra Leone’s lead and act now.
“A child robbed of education is not only devastating to mothers and their children, it also negatively impacts the economy,” said Fiona O’Malley.
World Vision Ireland is calling on the public to donate whatever they can to help the world’s most vulnerable children by going to worldvision.ie/transaction/where-the-need-is-greatest.