Women Literacy Has Dramatic Positive Impact In Society Than Just Population Control- World Bank Report

 

It is more in the pandemic times that we need to make educating the girl child as a top most priority

Photo courtesy: The Diplomat website

The pandemic has affected different people in different ways. But everyone has been affected. But on the worst receiving end has been children of all age groups and strata of society. Children, especially the girl child is running the risk of dropping out of schools in many parts of the world. 

Right to education is a fundamental right and cannot be denied to the girl child either. But the real truth is that most of the times, girls are marginalized and denied this simple right to them. 

Girl child education is not given priority in many countries and the Asia Pacific is no exception to this trend. With Covid-19 making formal and physical schooling a challenge, these children do not access to virtual learning either. In most cases, there are financial limitations at play. Many of these girls comes of households where there are just too many mouths to feed, making their education a lesser priority. 

According to a UNICEF report, almost 20 percent of girls in East Asia and the Pacific, (making it close to 40 million of them in total), have not been able to access distance learning educational resources during the pandemic and 69 percent of girls have been reported studying and learning less than usual.

Many of them are pushed into child labour or other kinds of chores. This is more prevalent in the Middle Eastern regions of Sudan, Yemen and Libya where a worn torn situation has forced parents to sell their daughters under slave trade or marry them off underage in order to make their ends meet. Education is thrown out of the window. There are shocking stories coming from parts of South East Asia as well. 

In Indonesia alone, 33,000 child marriages were permitted in the first six months of 2020, doubling the 2019 rate.

The UNICEF statistics further state that in South and West Asia, 2.8 million women and girls may not be able to return to education, from pre-primary to tertiary levels. The Education of the girl child is now holding priority from the perspective of not only child and human rights but also from the perspective of global population control. 

According to a World Bank report, at no point of time should any country see education of a girl child as a secondary option. The benefits of a girl having a secondary education lie not only in her having access to work and higher incomes, but also in the elimination of child marriage and reduction of child mortality and malnutrition. Her education really is our future.