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.
We usually start around 8AM PT — wondering what time that is for you? Use this time zone converter to find out!
Catch up on previous Field Notes episodes:
Upcoming Field Notes Conversations
May 14, 8am PDT
Mutriba Akhmedova, Chief Information Security Officer at IMON International (and Technovation Girls Chapter Ambassador in Tajikistan)
Join us for a conversation about girls technology education in Tajikistan!
Mutriba Akhmedova is a 2015 graduate of the TechWomen program as well as the current Chapter Ambassador for Technovation in Tajikistan. Mutriba works as the Chief Information Security Officer at IMON International (www.imon.tj), and a project coordinator of "T.I.M.E for Women" at the ICT Center.
She graduated from the Technological University of Tajikistan with a master degree in Computer Sciences. She has over 14 years of professional experience in the field of information technology, worked as a manager of the IT department, deputy head of IT division, head of the information security department, and also worked as an acting director at educational Training Center of Business and Finance Excellence for 2 years.
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 conversationAmir Banifatemi, Chief Innovation and Growth Officer at XPRIZE
Amir joined us on February 24 to discuss using AI for our common good.
Replay the conversationTeresa Drew, Director of STEM Next Opportunity Fund
Teresa joined us on March 8 to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on afterschool programs across the US
Replay the conversationAlicia Hammond, Gender Specialist at the World Bank Group
Alicia joined us on March 8 to discuss research on women in STEM around the world.
Replay the conversationJacqueline Strecker, UNHCR
Jacqueline joined us on March 12 to discuss COVID-19's impact on learning in refugee communities
Replay the conversationMary-Jane Strom & Marisa Cidre, Girl Scouts, Northern California
Mary-Jane Strom & Marisa Cidre from the Girl Scouts joined us on March 19.
Alice Rodrigues, Instituto Paramitas
Alice joined us on March 26 to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on girls' education in Brazil.
Navya Akkinepally & Shivi Chandra from Learning Equality
Navya Akkinepally and Shivi Chandra from Learning Equality joined us on April 9 to discuss how to bring quality eduction to everyone.
Hal Abelson, MIT
Hal Abelson joined us on April 16 to talk about how to tackle the UN's Sustainable Development Goals with code.
Sengmeng Koo, AI Singapore
Sengmeng Koo joined us on April 23, to talk about AI Singapore, one of the most successful AI programs for the broader public.
About 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.