Tag: Human Rights

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A girl’s right to an education

Camel looking to the right

You may be wondering about the relevance of the photo above as a camel might strike you as quite random given the topics I usually write about. But this article is about education and you will read about how Roshan the camel is helping rural children with theirs.

The right to an education

I recently joined a panel conversation organised by philanthropic organization, Giving Women on the subject of gender equity: can educating girls make it happen?

The webinar showcased a film called The Road to Vrindavan, focusing on the uphill struggle faced by a group of young girls in India in order to receive an education. The film follows the trail of some of the girls needing to break away from their families who saw no future other than an early marriage for their daughters and regarded them as a burden and a responsibility rather than assets to their families. Or the lengths taken by families, educators and associations such as Barefoot College to ensure the children received an education.

I had not yet had the opportunity to watch the film and did so the very next day with my daughter. My daughter is 11 years old, has always lived in Europe and has parents who value the power of education. She and I were transfixed as we watched the challenges faced by the girls to get an education. 

We saw children attending school at night- allowing them to get an education, whilst working or helping their families with chores during the day. At this point in the film, we even see a mother coming to interrupt her daughter at school to go work in the fields in the pitch-black darkness. We watched how a teacher’s support to her student who was being pressured into an early marriage helped bring about long-term and life-changing benefits.

My daughter possesses a level of empathy far greater than her years, watched the film in disbelief that this limited vision was a reality for so many girls in today’s world. She watched these girls of a similar age to herself and it was incomprehensive to her as to WHY a society would want to maintain such an attitude to their girls.  

Meagan Fallone, a former CEO of Barefoot College was one of the webinar panelists and articulated a concept along the lines of He for She which I had never fully considered before and which was such an eye opener. 

Education is but a part of the solution

Meagan emphasised that it was not a solution to educate girls alone. This was a part of the equation. Another crucial part is working towards the buy in from the families, fathers, brothers and society in order to maintain the momentum and further the normalisation of educating girls, allowing them a different future than what has gone before. To educate girls without working towards changing attitudes in their societies is a disservice to them and to long term progress. To helicopter educated girls back into their family lives without this change is to show them a glimpse of something else but without an infrastructure to support their growth and ambitions.

Life in a pandemic

The number of children out of school has risen during the Covid-19 pandemic to approximately 800 million according to UNICEF. The number of children working to support their families and never to return to school is also on the rise as per this article published in The Guardian. In this, Jo Becker, director at Human Rights Watch said, “The key driver is the economic situation that so many families are facing because they have lost jobs, they have lost income. The lockdowns in many countries have really dealt a blow.”

Unfortunately, many families now have no recourse but to stop schooling their children, forcing them to work instead and further perpetuate the cycle of poverty. A young Nepalese girl, Gita describes working at a loom from 4am until 10pm each day with only an hour’s break, in order to supplement her family’s income. Gita may be considered one of the lucky ones, in that she has returned to school. She now continues to weave in addition to attending school, working 13 hours a day at the loom- 5 hours before school and 8 hours after… 

Have You Read? Girl Vs Pandemic, 2025: Our Future Prosperity Depends On These Skills And Jobs

Meet Roshan, a inventive solution

The Covid-19 pandemic is has turned everyone’s lives upside-down, disproportionately affecting people living in or close to poverty, ethnic minorities and women. Yet, there are glimpses of adaptation and hope, such as this initiative in the Pakistani region of Balochistan in the guise of a camel library. The camel library is an educational lifeline for these rural children where schools have been more closed than open during the pandemic and is the brainchild of a secondary school principal, Rahima Jalal and her federal minister sister, Zubaida Jalal. As you can imagine, a camel library brings books as well as excitement and entertainment to the rural villages being visited. A glimmer of light-heartedness amidst communities in lockdown and rising levels of poverty and distress.

“Educating girls is not about women vs men, it’s about our past vs our future”

The chance for an education is something I hope we will all be able to take for granted one day soon, regardless of gender or the economic circumstance of one’s family or pandemics. The film, Road to Vrindavan contains the following sentiment and I couldn’t express this in a better way or agree more… “Educating girls is not about women vs men, it’s about our past vs our future”. To guarantee a stronger future, we need to support the education of girls.

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Choosing to challenge

Two one-ways road signs pointing in different directions

Why do we need to choose to challenge?

Over the weekend, I tried a flotation experience. Water, heated to body temperature, loaded with Epsom salts and matching the ambient air. Suspension in complete silence and darkness. No sensory information just the thoughts in my own head.

What did I discover?

Clearly thoughts relating to weightlessness. In outer space- as a child I was obsessed with astronomy, waking up in the middle of the night to stare at the stars. And in utero, how we must experience that same sensation before being born. But most of all, I condensed to just the thoughts in my head. My body ceased to exist.

I am the kind of person who makes pros and cons lists, to do lists, loves trying something new and yet feels uncomfortable in situations I cannot rationalise and physically control. According to my research, flotation causes the brain to produce Theta waves.

In these times, we’re presented with unpredictable, dreamlike (yet still vivid) images. Theta waves offer access to unconscious material, sudden insight, and creative material. It is a mysterious, elusive state that’s quite difficult to study because as soon as someone produces theta waves, they start to fall asleep.

In the flotation tank, my thoughts vividly informed me that I love writing my blog and the bare bones subject of this post and the ideas I wanted to present became crystal clear.

I realised that in these times of the pandemic, nothing is panning out the way we planned it. Our lives are drastically altered: we are now working from home or losing our jobs altogether, living a continual lottery over whether our children’s school remain open, the holidays we planned have all but disappeared, along with the after school activities carefully chosen. The families we love and miss terribly and still cannot go to visit…

Challenge yourself and the status quo- particularly during a pandemic

A new situation requires a new response. We need to choose to challenge ourselves and the status quo, particularly during a pandemic. We can no longer afford to stay within the confines of our comfort zones. The time is now to extend our horizons and everyday I hear of people doing just that.

I recently came across an interesting statistic for jobseekers: Men feel comfortable applying for roles with a 60% match rate, whereas women often wait for a 100% match.

With a higher rate of women losing their jobs, clearly this is something that women need to choose to challenge.

Women are choosing to challenge in all walks of society. Benazir Bhutto was Pakistan’s female prime minister in the late 1980- mid 1990’s. America has just elected its first female Vice President, who also happens to be Black/Asian. Professor Sarah Gilbert, co-developed the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID 19 vaccine. Dr Swati Mohan, was the Guidance and Controls Lead for NASA’s Mars 2020 mission to name a few female industry leaders…

Have You Read? STEM Powered The importance of being educated

The greatest gift to oneself

In post flotation reflection, I am happy to report that I too have moved towards doing things differently, I am learning that challenging my internal status quo is the greatest gift I can give to myself.

My latest personal challenge was courtesy of my voluntary involvement with Rezalliance, a non-profit aiming to promote healthier workplaces. Its mission is to ensure the practitioners operating under the Rezalliance umbrella are aligned with its core values and are sensitive to the needs of employees or employers seeking their services.

All this is the brainchild of the founder, Joëlle Payom who offered me the unique opportunity to host the very first talk to be launched. I said “YES” to being a part of Listen Up! before I could talk myself out of it and say “NO”! This was about pushing my personal boundaries, strengthening my public speaking skills and also learning more about the logistics that go into speaking in front of a remote audience. Joëlle agreed to be the 1st speaker and we embarked on this project of firsts together.

Choosing to challenge my comfort zone
Preparing to broadcast…please do not ring my doorbell!

Not only does Joëlle discuss breaking free of a traumatic experience by speaking out but, she didn’t stop there. Her experience is being turned on its head and is the impetus for a new beginning for her and potentially others too.

If not now, then when?

Choosing to challenge is beneficial to women and men at all levels on the economic ladder. I leave you with this recent video posted by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency featuring Niyukuri Pelagie, a female motorbike taxi rider, a refugee from Burundi and a glimpse of a woman challenging those gender stereotypes and taking her share of gainful employment. I loved her chutzpah!

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The importance of being educated

1.6 billion children and young adults were out of school worldwide during the COVID-19 lockdown. Source: Save The Children

June 8th was the day my daughter returned to school after the lockdown in France ended. Some of her school friends had already returned in May, with others choosing not to go back until school attendance became compulsory again. My daughter, was excited to see her teacher and friends. She was equally happy to get away from her parents-who-had-become-teachers and enjoy her final year of primary school- an experience which had certainly been interrupted. 

20 million more secondary school-aged girls will not be returning to school post COVID-19 lockdown

As countries emerged from lockdown around the world, a recurring theme appeared. The chasm between children and their opportunities for learning was widening due to COVID-19, the pandemic and the subsequent financial crisis. Many children, especially girls and young women were not returning to their place of education. According to a recent report from Save The Children, 258 million children were already out of school prior to the COVID 19 pandemic. 130 million of these children were girls. The Malala Fund estimates an approximate 20 million more secondary school-aged girls will not be returning to school after the crisis has passed.

School represents a crucial organization in our lives. It is a place of learning languages, maths and science and also social skills, autonomy. For too many children, school is also a safe haven from a difficult home life, domestic violence or a guaranteed meal. For female students, an emphasis on school can also mean a delay in forced marriages, sexual violence and teenage pregnancies too. A brighter future altogether.

During the COVID 19 lockdown, many schools and educational institutions around the world took their teaching online. Zoom class calls and YouTube learning videos became the norm, however the experience and the learning has been far from uniform.

Have you read? 2025: Our future prosperity depends on these skills and jobs A girl’s right to an education

What did we discover?

Beyond an opportunity to have a sneak peak into the homes of classmates on a webinar, the lack of resources has become evident. The US Federal Communications Commission reported 20 million Americans not having access to the internet. This being one of the richest countries in the world and yet a significant number of citizens lack a resource many of us take for granted in our daily lives.

Unfortunately, it is then easier to understand the paucity of resources and internet access for students in developing countries. The Save Our Education report references statistics from UNESCO, stating 500 million students were excluded from remote learning in their countries, with 465 million students not having internet access in their homes- a resource that is even less accessible to girls.

We have learnt of children particularly girls not returning to school post lockdown. “In a crisis like COVID-19, girls and young women are the first to be removed from school and the last to return,” said Malala Yousafzai, advocate of girls’ right to education. 

Research is showing repeatedly, that the impact of COVID 19 is disproportionately higher on lower income families, minority racial groups, female children, developing countries. To understand the impact on education for girls, the Malala Fund, used school closures in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia during the 2014 Ebola outbreak and reported the COVID 19 pandemic will have lasting effects for the most marginalised girls and adding further financial pressure on families.

Many families prioritized education for their children, however, in today’s post lockdown world, circumstances and plans for the future may be altogether different. Unemployment, or financial insecurity is translating into increasing numbers of children being forced into child labour. Sadly, the Malala Fund Report found post-Ebola, that once schools reopened, children who found work were rarely encouraged to return to school. A post-COVID-19 world is repeating that trend.

Governments, coping with the health and economic issues simultaneously and affected by a stalled tourism industry, a lack of foreign investment and low commodity prices are struggling to keep their economies afloat. Many are now considering a financial redirection from an already under-funded education towards other immediate societal demands.

An entire generation’s future is at stake

The importance of education cannot be stressed enough. The knowledge and skills learnt are what raises people out of poverty, empowers and even improves their health. With an entire generation of children worldwide affected by the missed school or not returning to education, their futures are dramatically and negatively impacted.

The entire world is responsible for ensuring the safety and improved circumstances of the youth of today. The Save The Children Report has identified 5 recommendations for governments and donors to aid the vulnerable and bring them back from the brink of their future disaster. 

  1. Plan. Agree and implement a global COVID-19 action plan
  2. Invest. Commit to an increased funding for education
  3. Learn. Interventions should ensure the most marginalized children are learning
  4. Protect. Ensure all children are healthy, safe and well when they are out of school and when they return
  5. Progress. On implementation of the plan and finance committed to achieving it needs to be tracked

The recommendations are ambitious and require the buy-in from many sectors. The World Bank and IMF, the suspension of debt for developing countries. Raising additional funding through the taxation of multinational companies and its allocation to education and child welfare to aid the next generation. 

The recommendations can also be distilled into bite-sized measures for communities to tackle on local levels. The Malala Fund’s Education Champions Network presents impressive examples with their educational programs created for the radio, national curriculum digitilised, advocating change of social norms and gender to bring girls back into school, training of community groups to monitor local schools and ensure these are safe environments, campaigning for free education and many more.

We can all hold ourselves responsible and accountable for the well-being of this generation of future scientists, artists, industry leaders, farmers, charity workers, teachers, idea generators. They deserve our support now in order to reach their potential.