Children and COVID-19 Research Library

Practical activities are extremely important in teaching sciences as they aid the students in comprehending scientific concepts through participatory learning. However, most Kenyan public schools lack well equipped laboratories. Additionally, the diminishing resources resulting from post-COVID effects offer no beam of hope. Disruption from COVID also poses critical challenges of handling physical devices in times of such pandemics. To address this, the Integration of Virtual Labs to Enhance STEM Education for Girls (IVLESTEG) project was conceptualized to enhance girl’s access to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematic (STEM) subjects in Kenyan secondary schools. The aim of this research study was to critically appraise the current technology models in relation  to girls’ access to STEM education with the overall objective of exploring the potential of e-learning in promoting participation of female students in STEM subjects in Kenya.

Today, the increasing process with the using internet is a kind of disease among adolescents, especially in the COVID-19 pandemic. The activities such as learning–educational process and online games will become one of the problems for families. This study aimed to determine the relationship between internet addiction and parent–child relationships in high school girls in Isfahan. This descriptive-correlational study was conducted in girls' high school in Isfahan, Iran. One hundred and sixty students and one of their parents had participated through cluster sampling method. They filled out the Young Internet Addiction Questionnaire and the Fine et al.'s Child-Parent Questionnaire (PCRS). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistical tests and Pearson correlation test. The significance level of the data was considered 0.05.

This report, focusing on evidence from Brazil, Dominican Republic, and El Salvador, forms part of Plan International’s ongoing research, Real Choices, Real Lives – a qualitative, longitudinal study following the lives of girls living in nine countries* around the world from their birth (in 2006), until they turn 18 (in 2024). Through annual data collection, Real Choices, Real Lives captures unique insights into what it means to grow up as a girl across different contexts, including how families and communities shape expectations of what girls can do, and be, right from the moment they are born.

What kind of opportunities can a child expect in life? Every child deserves to be loved, cared for, free from the threat of violence, and have the ability to fulfil their potential through exercising their agency, pursuing their education, and making choices in how to earn and spend money. However, due to entrenched gender norms and societal practices, girls are particularly at risk of living in an environment where many of their God-given rights are taken away from them. Child marriage is perhaps the most blatant sign of this. Every year, approximately 12 million girls are married before they reach the age of 18, robbing them of the opportunity to reach their full potential. Child marriage can result in early pregnancy (with associated serious health risks) and social isolation, interrupt schooling, limit opportunities for career and vocational advancement, and place girls at increased risk of domestic violence.

More than 15.5 percent of Bangladeshi girls had been forced into wedlock below the age of 15 whereas the marriage age in Bangladesh during a pandemic. With the recent reopening of Bangladeshi schools, authorities have been alarmed by the number of girls not attending classes. In Khulna district, North of Bangladesh recorded more than 3,000 child marriages in this district. The paper will assess and estimate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the education of young girls. Some case studies will be conducted in the child marriage-prone district of Khulna. Technology is not the only solution to all problems, it needs infrastructure, access to the internet or mobile, and economic solvency to provide necessary things. Since the majority of schools have moved instruction online because of the pandemic, it is now important to give girls the tools to participate in distance learning techniques. Because thousands of girl brides in southern Bangladesh whose classroom seats have remained empty after reopening of school.

When analysing the Covid-19 pandemic potential consequences on education, it is evident that it had adverse effects on the existing educational inequalities worldwide. However, little is known about how the digital divide have worsened the conventional educational system and reinforced pre-existing gender inequalities among the historically marginalised communities. This research paper explores how the pandemic, along with digital divide, deteriorated the educational system among the socially deprived groups (i.e. tribals also known as indigenous or Adivasis) and place them in a disadvantageous position. The paper reflects on how the Covid-19 pandemic re-configured the pre-existing issues of educational inequalities and how the digital dived have been manifested in a way that has particularly affected the young tribal girls. For this study, semi-structured interviews with tribal students, their parents and teachers residing in a remote area of Jharkhand, India, were conducted to understand their experiences of shifting to online education mode. Other than accessibility and infrastructure issue, the findings reveal that the elements of cultural and social issues (related to perceived benefits of education for girls and mindset or beliefs parents and teachers towards effectiveness of digital mode of education delivery) create and reinforce the digital divide for the tribal girls in the hinterlands.

There is a critical need for interventions that can be feasibly implemented and are effective in successfully engaging adolescent females in physical activity (PA). A theory-based, peer-led, after-school PA intervention, the Girls Active Project (GAP), was codesigned with adolescent females. This study aimed to assess the feasibility of implementing and evaluating the GAP programme. One single-sex, female-only, designated disadvantaged postprimary school (students aged 12–18) in Dublin, Ireland. Mixed methods were applied with multiple stakeholders over a 12-week trial (March to May 2021). A single-arm study design was used to examine intervention: reach, dose, fidelity, acceptability, compatibility and context. Feasibility of using proposed self-reported outcome measures (moderate-to-vigorous PA levels, self-rated health, life satisfaction, PA self-efficacy and PA enjoyment) was also explored.

It is without question that gender attitudes/norms, voice and agency, self-efficacy, and locus of control are important determinants of health and well-being, particularly for adolescent girls and boys in low to middle income countries. And, while prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were trends suggesting social inequities would be on the decline, these trends have since reversed due to abrupt long-term school closures as a result of the pandemic. This study examines adolescents’ perceptions of gender norms/attributes, voice/agency, self-efficacy, locus of control, and gender-based violence norms pre-COVID and one year later during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown in India, a country with one of the largest adolescent populations worldwide. The data for this study were derived from a larger study via two cross-sectional self-reported survey of adolescents ages 10-15 years old in public schools located in Delhi, India (urban), and Uttar Pradesh, India (rural) pre-COVID and one year later. The adolescent participants were part of local existing after-school programs and interventions implemented by non-profit community organizations, and a convenience sample (n=547) was recruited.

Most of the research on refugee economic participation has focused on adult refugee populations, particularly men. Data on adolescents and youth, particularly girls and young women, is limited. This report aims to fill some of these research gaps and contribute to efforts to support refugee youth to realise their potential in line with the commitments enshrined in both the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to ‘leave no one behind’, and in the Global Compact on Refugees, to ‘enhance refugee self-reliance’. Focusing on male and female youth aged 15–24 years from Syrian and Palestinian refugee communities in Jordan, as well as vulnerable Jordanians in host communities, the report captures their aspirations and experiences in building independent and sustainable livelihoods. It incorporates a gender lens to identify and analyse the factors that promote or hinder youth participation in the labour market, paying particular attention to gender norms and roles.

A literature review was conducted to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on documented preexisting determinants of adolescent pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa such as poverty, inequitable gender norms, low access to education, and reproductive health services. The terms “sub-Saharan Africa,” “Gender Norms,” “Poverty,” and “Adolescent Pregnancy” were used to search the literature for preexisting determinants of adolescent pregnancy in academic and grey literature. “COVID-19” was added to investigate the potential consequences of the pandemic. The literature revealed similar experiences in adolescent girls during the Ebola outbreak, which lead to the analysis of government and healthcare official responses to previous epidemics.

The process of data analysis provides, undoubtedly, some of the major challenges facing organizations during the implementation of interventions in emergencies. The challenges are primarily due to the lack of direct access to beneficiaries and the rapidly evolving nature of emergencies. This paper outlines how Plan International’s Making Ghanaian Girls Great! (MGCubed) project used phone-based surveys to assess the uptake of a Ghana Learning TV (GLTV) programme implemented in partnership with the government. Due to the emergency context and the need for real-time information to guide the implementation of this intervention, there was little time to undertake a major statistical analysis of survey data. This paper discusses how the MGCubed project adopted a simple data disaggregation method using a logic tree technique to gain valuable insights from the survey data. The method allowed for exploring the insights of the data set in real-time without requiring more complex and time-consuming analysis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with reduced access to health services and worsening health outcomes for HIV and sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Through the analysis of data from an evaluation study of a combination intervention for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in South Africa, this study sought to examine the way in which implementation and service provision were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions, describing the adaptation implementers made to respond to this context. The intervention was implemented from 2019 in South African districts identified as high priority, given the high rates of HIV and teenage pregnancy amongst AGYW.

This brief was developed to support the dissemination of key messages in Mind the Gap 2: Seeking Safe and Sustainable Solutions for Girls’ Education in Crises. It provides an overview of evidence and gaps in girls’ and women’s access to distance education and recommends actions for gender-responsive planning and design of distance education policies and interventions.

With a burgeoning out‐of‐school population and illiteracy rate, the situation of protracted conflict and crises fuelled by the Boko‐Haram insurgency further exacerbates educational inequality for children in northern Nigeria. The Covid‐19 pandemic further deepened the “educational poverty” experienced there. This article focuses on data generated around ACE radio school, an initiative to mitigate the impact of Covid‐19‐related school closures in northern Nigeria. The initiative targeted young learners using radio as a medium to support their continued learning remotely in numeracy, literacy, sciences, and civics education. Daily learning activities were broadcasted in the local Hausa language, supported through “listening groups” that engaged local learning facilitators in the communities. Despite the known existing barriers that have been identified to hinder access to quality education in the region, including poverty, religion, socio‐cultural factors, and protracted conflict situations, our interviews revealed that parents were committed to supporting their children’s attendance at listening groups, due to the use of their mother tongue as a mode of instruction.

This paper summarizes the findings of the monitoring report: Mind the Gap 2: Seeking Safe and Sustainable Solutions for Girls’ Education in Crises, which was commissioned by the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) in collaboration with the INEE Reference Group on Girls’ Education in Emergencies. It recommends actions for governments, donors, civil society, collectors and collators of data, and teachers and other education personnel to address the gaps identified in the delivery, planning, funding, and monitoring of girls’ and women’s education in crisis contexts.