Focusing on girls’ education in the time of COVID
In the last year, school closures have affected approximately 90 percent of children worldwide, with 1.5 billion students out of school at the peak of the pandemic, according to the United Nations Development Program.
We are feeling the effects of those closures now, and will continue to feel them for years to come. When schools cannot reopen after a natural hazard, there are long-term impacts on students’ learning. For instance, in Pakistan children in areas affected by the 2005 earthquake experienced nearly three months of school closures. Four years later, those students remained one-and-a-half to two years behind. The impact of school closures affects some students more than others, with younger students being most affected. Additionally those who lived closer to the fault line scored significantly worse on tests — unless their mother had completed primary school education. Children whose mothers completed primary education did not experience that gap.
With the Covid-19 pandemic, school closures can create a multiplier effect on learning losses for millions of children. Girls and young women are particularly vulnerable — to early pregnancy, child marriage and gender-based violence.
What can we do to help children, especially girls, develop key capabilities so that they are able to thrive in these complex times? We can work together and share what we know, and what we learn.
Technovation will convene experts, leaders, educators and researchers to share their work, hard-earned findings, mistakes, secret tips and strategies so that we can better support children develop the skills they need to thrive now, and in a post-COVID world. We will continue to run the Global Education Taskforce and are excited to introduce a new livestream conversation series with Taskforce members.
Join us every Friday for short, informal, Field Notes conversations on our Twitch Channel.
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Catch up on previous Field Notes episodes:
Upcoming Field Notes Conversations:
Previous Field Notes Speakers
Shivani Nayyar, co-author of the UN Human Development Reports
Shivani joined us on January 28, 2021 to discuss How to improve learning outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic based on the UN Human Development Reports from 2020.
Justine Sass, Chief of the Section of Education for Inclusion and Gender Equality at UNESCO
Justine joined us on February 8, to discuss How the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting girls' education and what we need to do in the years ahead to keep girls learning.
Replay the conversationGilberto Duarte, Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
Gilberto joined us on February 19 to discuss Education and Justice.
Replay the conversationAbout Technovation
Technovation is a technology education nonprofit with a mission to empower vulnerable groups (especially girls and women) to create technology-based solutions to problems in their communities. Over the past 14 years, Technovation has engaged ~50,000 mentors and educators to support more than 250,000 participants across 100+ countries, to tackle pressing problems ranging from climate change to substance abuse, and most recently, COVID-19. Students and adults learn about technology entrepreneurship through a 12-week curriculum. Learners are equipped with 21st century skills of problem identification, complex systems thinking and real-world problem solving.