The Pioneer: Pandemic Could Deepen Gender Inequalities

Pandemic Could Further Deepen Gender Inequalities

The Pioneer, Suryaprabha Sadasivan, 18 June 2020

(Image courtesy of The Pioneer)

"It takes a village to raise a child,” goes a famous African proverb, emphasising on the role of the community to raise children in a safe and healthy environment. A contextual question in today’s times is whether it must also take a village to teach a child? Because globally and in India, education has been one of the biggest victims of COVID-19. During and post-pandemic, it will require a collaborative approach to rethink and reprioritise strategies to keep children in school, especially girls.

A recent UNESCO report highlighted that school closures due to the national lockdown have affected over 320 million children in India; of these, about 158 million are girls. One cannot argue against the principles of school closure because the idea is to keep students safe at home. The reality, however, is that for millions of students, especially girls, closure of institutions of learning could mean permanently dropping out of school and reversing the gains made in recent years.