Impacts on girls’ return to school

Emerging findings from GEC countries in West Africa indicate that COVID-19 has had a negative impact on the enrolment rates for girls across the region. For example, in Nigeria, the number of out-of-school children stands at 10.1 million, an increase of more than 3 million from last year.19 Only 59% of school-age children went to school in October 2020, compared to 74% in January 2019.20 In Sierra Leone, one in 10 students had failed to return to school by November 2020. GEC projects have also seen an impact on the return-to-school rate. For example, GATE-GEC has found that migration has delayed girls from returning to school or prevented them from returning altogether. In addition, some being forced to continue participating in income-generating activities caused a delay in girls returning to school. EAGER also noted that girls’ increased focus on farming and mining activities as an alternative for basic survival has led to changes in attendance levels.

As with the Ebola pandemic, it seems that the increase in early marriage, teenage pregnancy and greater poverty has resulted in an increased dropout rate. However, in March 2020, the Sierra Leonean government overturned their decision to prevent pregnant girls from attending school and sitting exams – a significant step towards keeping girls in education.21

Project interventions focused on keeping in touch with girls during the lockdown period. For example, EAGER ensured that mentors kept in close contact with girls through the community-based learning groups. In addition, GATE-GEC used phone-based monitoring and support throughout the lockdown period.

Back to school campaigns and community outreach was a common intervention across the region. Projects also disseminated COVID-19 messaging to assuage fears of transmission at school. For example, Impact(Ed): Discovery Project 2 (DP2) raised COVID-19 awareness through mobile phone calls, SMS and WhatsApp groups and mobilised communities to take appropriate public health and child protection precautions during the pandemic, prioritising continued learning for children.

MGCubed provided cash transfers to young mothers, girls with disabilities and girls in older grade classes to encourage their return. In addition to amplifying the national back-to-school campaign, the project worked with District Education Officers to track absenteeism and follow up with children who were regularly absent. Of the 178 children who missed at least three days of school and whose cases were followed up, 118 have returned and are attending regularly. Schools were also provided with wash items and pupils and teachers were given reusable personal protective equipment (PPE). As of June 2021, the project had recorded a return rate of 93%.

Ghana

Literature review findings: Schools were reopened in January 2021 after nine months of closure.

Core interventions:

MGCubed focused on national TV and radio messaging (working with MoE) and back-to-school messaging shared through community information centres and local networks through the District Education Officers and project facilitators. Additional activities provided cash transfers to young mothers, girls with disabilities and girls in older grade classes to encourage their return. They also supported the national back-to-school campaign and worked in each district to amplify it with the District Education Offices (DEO). In addition, the project worked with DEO officers to track absenteeism and follow up with children who were regularly absent (of 178 children who missed at least three days of school and whose cases were followed up, 118 have returned and are regularly attending). Schools were also provided with WASH items and pupils and teachers were given PPE. Results show that there was a 93% return rate to school.

STAGE worked on transition processes, including back to school campaigns and support of community oversight committees. Results show that 88% (7,152) out-ofschool girls have transitioned to formal schools since the government announced the reopening of schools.

Nigeria

Literature review findings: Only 59% of school-age children went to school in October 2020, compared to 74% in January 2019 (OsaeBrown 2021). The number of out-of-school children stands at 10.1 million, an increase of more than 3 million from last year (Obiezu 2021).

Core interventions:

Impact(Ed) raised COVID-19 awareness through mobile phone calls, SMS and WhatsApp groups and mobilising communities to take appropriate public health and child protection precautions during the pandemic, including prioritising continued learning for children. The results show that these efforts reached at least 25,000 households across project areas in Kano State.

Sierra Leone

Literature review findings:

In November 2020, one in 10 students had failed to return to school since reopening in October 2020 (Street Child 2020). In March 2020, the government overturned their decision to prevent pregnant girls from attending school and sitting exams, a significant step towards keeping girls in education (Calimoutou 2020).

Project findings:

GATE-GEC reported that migration has resulted in girls not returning to school as they were forced to continue participating in income-generating activities. They also found a delay in girls returning to school due to slow migration back to their communities after closures. Some girls returned to schools in new communities or schools not associated with the GEC.

EAGER saw an increased focus on farming and mining activities for some girls as an alternative for basic survival which led to changes in attendance levels.

Core interventions:

EAGER used small, safe space-based community learning groups and ensured that mentors kept in close contact with girls. They avoided interactive activities, which could increase the risk of spreading COVID-19. They used stories that spoke to girls’ risks as starting points for discussion about sensitive topics and reinforced COVID-19 safety and hygiene messaging at the start of each session. They also reinforced safeguarding and reporting messaging during sessions and prioritised stress management skills and emotional resilience as core components of the programme. Results have seen over 80% re-enrollment of girls. The group of girls that had dropped out of the original cohort was because of early marriage and pregnancies (during the pause in learning) and girls moving away from the community.

GATE-GEC used a back-to-school and safe reopening of schools campaign. They also used community mobilisation and sensitisation, social protection, and phone-based monitoring and support. The results showed that when accounting for children that transitioned out of the cohort and into Senior Secondary School, 82% of the project’s cohort returned to school (note: this does not mean the remaining 18% did not return to school as many families migrated. It is likely that some children returned to school in new communities).

What next?

This paper has reported the emerging impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on girls’ learning, wellbeing and return to school. Projects have reported what they did in response to COVID-19, the activities they implemented and the pivots they made to programming. As we move into the next phase of COVID-19, where COVID-19 case rates are rising in some places and schools are re-closing, the need to continue to collect evidence and document the evolving challenges that girls face what interventions are successful or not is crucial.

The evidence reported here will be revisited in 2021 through projects’ discussion and reporting, resulting in an updated paper. The intention is to find out and document, as schools reopen, evolving challenges faced by girls, what interventions were successful and why, using project data, assessment data and reporting.