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Envisioning Education in a Digital Society: Creating Impact at the local level for Girls’ Education in East Africa

Mon, March 24, 4:30 to 5:45pm, Palmer House, Floor: 7th Floor, Clark 3

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

The right of all girls to be educated equally with boys is enshrined in a host of international and regional instruments including article 10 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence Against Women (1981)6 which sets forth the normative content in relation to the elimination of discrimination against women and ensuring equal rights with men in the field of education. Girls’ right to education are embedded in articles 28 and 29 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and articles 11 of the African Children’s Charter. The Beijing Platform Action (1995) also set out detailed provisions on education. Gender equality and inclusion is one among the seven outcome targets of SDG 4 on education.

Despite some progress made in closing gender gaps in terms of human endowments, opportunities, and voice and agency,7 the achievement of gender equality in and through education in sub-Saharan Africa remains elusive. While out-of-school factors such as child marriage, FGM and other forms of gender-based abuse and violence; adolescent pregnancy directly impact on girls’ continuing participation in education, in-school barriers including exclusionary school rules, regulations and practices; gender stereotyped messaging through text books and other curricula materials; gender unfriendly learning environments in the classroom and as reflected in the infrastructure (e.g. WASH facilities) contribute to the physical and psychological exclusion of girls from school. National policies to safeguard girls and eliminate genderbased discrimination, such as policies for the continuation and readmission of girls following pregnancy, where they exist are inadequately enforced and does not put in measures to tackle deep rooted biases and stigmatisation of girl mothers8 . What is missing from much of the available literature is deep understanding of the interface between colonial and contemporary policies and practices on girls’ continued marginalisation in education in sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, little consideration is made of the intersection of socio-economic status, (dis)ability, race, ethnicity, religion, and gender in the creation of “overlapping and self-reinforcing layers of disadvantage, limiting opportunity and social mobility for children from disadvantaged and marginalised groups” that contribute to the exclusion of girls from the formal education system.

At the Transforming Education Summit (TES) that took place in September 2022 in New York, governments made commitments including expanding investments, mobilising political efforts to leave no one behind, make the digital transformation work for everyone, adopt a life course approach to essential services and urgently tackle the global crisis in education and specifically invest in women and girls. This includes a call to rally all actors behind a set of high impact initiatives aimed at demonstrating that transformative progress is possible despite challenging global circumstances and at mobilising further leadership and investment to bring progress to scale between now and 2030. Following the transforming education summit, the African Union announced Education as the AU theme of the Year for 2024 under the theme “Educate an African Fit for the 21st Century: Building resilient education systems for increased access to inclusive, lifelong, quality, and relevant learning in Africa.” As part of commemorating the Africa Union Year of Education, 2024, the AU is looking closely at each specific goal in CESA 16-25 or in the SDG4, realising the urgency to transform and revitalise the entire education system on the continent, while paying special attention to marginalised groups including girls, children in rural areas, those living with disabilities, and those in the move, including those in fragile countries and contexts. Objective 7 of the AU year of education calls for enhanced equitable access to quality education and protection for girls and women, youth, people with disabilities and children especially in emergencies and conflict contexts.

The commitments in the globe and the African continent in the past few years call for a Shift in transforming education systems to make them more responsive to the needs of all learners, girls, and boys alike.

With this panel, we recognise that substantive progress has been made in advancing girls’ education in the East African region and in some locations girls’ attendance and learning has overtaken that of boys. However, these statistics disguise the reality that in East Africa many girls are still facing profound education challenges. Gender combined with characteristics such as poverty, disability, conflict, and living in rural locations all have a powerful influence on education outcomes (Global Education Monitoring Report Team, 2020). Even when girls are enrolled in school, they may struggle with regular attendance, meaningful participation, and steady progress through grade levels as their educational aspirations are in direct competition with societal expectations on their roles as domestic support in family homes and gender norms related to expectations to become wives and mothers.

With the various papers on this panel, we are calling for restlessness in reflecting on girl education as a pressing social justice issue while adopting a solution-focus approach, sharing innovations and evidence on what has worked, with a strong call to commit for our children and particularly girls. With the panel, we envision Education in a Digital Society and how we can create effective Impact at the local level for Girls’ Education in East Africa.

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