Report: 250,000 girls dropped out of school during Covid break
Irene Githinji @gitshee
About 250,000 girls did not report back to class in January when schools re-opened after the long coronavirus-driven break.
At the same time, 125,000 boys did not go back to school for various reasons while 165,000 girls either got pregnant or were married in the last one year.
Deputy Chief of Staff in the Office of the President Ruth Kagia yesterday said the data was based on a study undertaken to ascertain impact of the pandemic on education.
“A study undertaken last year to show the impact of Covid-19 on adolescents indicates that when schools opened in January, 125,000 boys did not return (to school) and 250,000 girls did not for various reasons,” said Kagia.
“The data also revealed that 165,000 girls either got pregnant or got married during that period so this is not a joke. It is a major disruption to the lives of our young people.”
She was speaking during the launch of Kenya’s statement of commitment to education financing and role as co-host of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) 2021-25 replenishment campaign.
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha launched the statement.
“The rate of teenage pregnancies went up. Others fell into risks like substance abuse and access to unregulated information through technology,” Kagia said.
She said Kenya, in conjunction with the UK, was coordinating the raising money to boost education systems globally.
Kagia said unless countries strengthened their education programmes, economic growth would be constrained.
“Part of GPE’s role it is to strengthen the systems so that children can go back to school even when there has been a slowdown.”
Child marriages
The fourth replenishment requires collection of $5 billion (Sh539 billion) for a five-year period.
“If we are able to raise the funds, it will enable 175 million boys and girls to get an education and enrol 88 million more children in school.
Right now, we have 250 million children who are out of school and we will also protect about two million girls from child marriages.”
She said President Uhuru Kenyatta and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson were mobilising donor countries, including G7 governments, to fund the GPE programme.
Magoha said that owing to the good partnership between Kenya and GPE, the country is now among the pilot centres for the GPE financing arrangement for 2021-2025.
He said the new $53.3 million (Sh5.9 billion) System Transformative Grant is expected to support the full implementation of education reforms.
Kenya will also benefit from a further System Capacity Grant of $3.8 million (Sh409 million) and multiplier grant of $40 million (Sh4.3 billion).
“On behalf of government, I am releasing a statement, which underscores our firm commitment to protecting domestic financing for education,” said the CS.
He said the campaign will help to come up with resources to address widespread disruptions to learning caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
