Shortness of breath is one of the symptoms of the new coronavirus disease. Nonetheless, another nightmare that is giving parents, guardians and teachers strained breathing and anxiety is the security of girls when they are out of school for a long time.
Indeed, it is not just the girls. Previously when universities are closed indefinitely, the young women students have either ended up marrying early or dropping out of school due to unplanned pregnancies. However, all in all, they are girls.
Worse, or unfortunately, the girl-child has been found to be more vulnerable than the boys in everyday chats and studies, leading to questions and intense debates about gender parity at school.
So, unhooking girls from schools and universities without a warning and keeping them at home for months like has happened for the Covid-19 break, is to increase their vulnerability.
This uneasiness could explain the reason girls’ parents prefer boarding schools. Head-teachers also say they perform better in examinations as boarding students, although due to cost constraints they can’t all be living in school.
But, how can the girls survive the roughness outside the schools to complete studies and do well in national examinations like Kenya’s certificate of secondary education (KCSE)?
At a school in Homa Bay County, Prof Jane Konditi challenged girls to learn to ask tough questions when boys and men approach them with requests for love and early marriage.
“Girls, learn to say something and always ask the ‘Why’ question that requires knowledge and research,” Prof Konditi said in September 2019.
Asking ‘Why’ and not ‘What’, she said, is the way to keep most men at arm’s length because it is not easy to explain things.
Phoebe Asiyo, a former Karachuonyo MP and women rights campaigner, says girls must embrace big goals.
“The sky is not the limit, girls. Aim for the outer space,” Mrs Asiyo, the author of a book, It Is Possible, said.
While educationists are contemplating the best way out of the Corona mire, anxiety continues to plague parents and teachers on girls’ schooling.
Teachers wonder whether their students will be able to pick up from where they stopped. Governments are concerned about the safety and destiny of the school-going generation.
Perhaps, the girls ought to hear what Sanda Ojiambo, who has just been appointed as the executive director of UN Global Compact, the agency that monitors enterprise sustainability.
It is important for girls and women to seize opportunities, Ms Ojiambo told the Sunday Nation. “I think opportunity is being aware that they can, with support and mentorship, achieve their dreams,” she said.
How can they get access to mentors who will show them that “it is possible,” like Mrs Asiyo says and that there are better opportunities later in life, including becoming a top UN official?
So, what’s the problem: staying out of school or lacking mentors?
African educationist James Kwegyir’s philosophy probably captures the need for staking the girl-child better. Kwegyir said that “If you educate a man, you have educated and an individual. But when you educate a woman, you have educated the whole society.”
The visionary believed the society badly required a reawakening on the need to educate the girl to ensure a healthy continuity.
In many countries, the girl-child appears neglected right from the family level while the boy-child is favoured. However, recently, there have been concerns that boys had been bypassed with uncountable interventions targeting girls. Blame games, however, won’t help.
The fight for girl-child’s successful completion of the education cycle should not be a cause for applause neither should it be a dumb effort to impress. Through school, people become aware of self and the society better.
It goes without saying that the longer students stay out of school, the higher the probability that many of them might be going through de-schooling. In fact, in some communities, this may be the excellent opportunity to marry them off, visualising less economic burden. Unfortunately, these steps end up hurting many girls while yoking them with perpetual guilt and sorrow.
Researchers Imran Rasul and Andrea Smurra, and economist Oriana Bandiera found that there is a way out of the likely mess. Knowing the danger of leaving the girl-child without support, they suggest virtual mentorship or phone-based group chats to reduce exposure to men.
Reports indicate only parents with a strong inner calling can institute ‘curfews’ on the young learners. Parents can no longer afford the luxury of laissez faire. The girls should also understand that parents act in the best interest of their lives and safety.
Girls require the spirit, the will and the skills for own survival and role in shaping the society.
