By S Pee Vululleh, Executive Director, Lau Foundation
January 2023: Kids receiving their BackToSchool supplies in present of their teachers and parents
Introduction
This paper intends to explore, focusing on the impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), quality education for all, and will extend and connect to Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5), gender equality. The discussion will deepen into the effects of lost ground due to the pandemic and if there are any mechanisms to put in place to ensure the ground is not lost again if another pandemic, natural disaster, or unnatural disaster occurs. The United Nations (UN) Member States adopted the Sustainable Development Agenda in 2015, setting 2030 as a deadline for achieving gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls, extending to providing equitable education opportunities for all. This Agenda ensures that all girls and boys complete accessible, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education that can lead to relevant learning outcomes for societal benefits (UN Women, 2022). Gender equity entails fairness and justice in the distribution of resources, benefits, and responsibilities among all genders, which is critical because societies worldwide have deemed females, transgender people, and nonbinary people as weaker than males. Government must meet each community wherever it is and allocate resources and opportunities as needed to create equal outcomes for all community members (Martinez, 2022). Nowadays, gender equity has helped shape the roles and expectations of men, women, and all genders at work, at home, and society. The world will be a better and more comfortable place to live when all people are accepted for their talents, skills, and abilities, regardless of gender or level of education.
Goal 4 in perspectives
Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) is a plan to ensure inclusiveness and promote equitable learning opportunities for everyone, ensuring access to preschool, elementary and middle school, senior high school, and post-high school, and improving scholarships’ availability to students. Hopefully, SDG 4 is intended to be achieved by 2030, but the COVID-19 pandemic profoundly disrupted this path to development. While it might be true that about 90% of countries implemented some remote learning programs where teachers implemented digital learning programs, virtual learning was not accessible to everyone. It is estimated that 463 million children worldwide could not access remote learning because some were in rural areas without internet services or were experiencing poverty (Galvin, 2022). Researchers assert that before the pandemic, things were only partially on track for achieving SDG 4 by 2030. They concluded that about 53% of children in low and middle-income countries were in learning poverty, which is being unable to read and comprehend a simple text by age ten— a phrase used by the World Bank and UNESCO Institute for Statistics to determine children reading skill level. Children who are unable to read by age ten will not be able to achieve SDG 4 by 2030 because of the presence of learning poverty, which indicates cracks in the education system. It is essential to remember that reading skill is necessary for all aspects of educational success.
Goal 5 in perspectives
Literature shows that in July 2020, the UN General Assembly held a stakeholder hearing to discuss the acceleration of the realization of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls—the need for women’s participation in leadership positions, which will ensure the diversity of women leaders. Female participation will equally allow them to bring their unique agendas to the table. When more perspectives are involved in lawmaking, the resulting laws will be just and democratic. Several obstacles impede women’s empowerment: unemployment, the digital divide, conflict, gender-based violence, and exclusion from governance. The proper mechanism needs to be implemented to address these issues, focusing on the following solutions; job security, digital transformation, women in peacebuilding roles, and access to health services (such as HIV/AIDS treatment, contraceptives, and sanitary products). It is emphasized that globally, 4 million girls were at risk for early and forced marriage due to poverty, school closures, and financial stress for families related to the coronavirus. While it is true that SDG 5 is intended to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, it cannot be possible when girls do not have access to education.
What has happened?
The coronavirus has significantly impacted almost all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially Goals 4 and 5, leaving no country unaffected (Martín-Blanco et Al., 2022). Due to school closures, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had substantive negative impacts on local and global education. These negative impacts are extended to international travel, where restrictions are implemented as social measures to contain the virus, significantly negatively impacting the economy and employment. The disruption of the education system causes poorer families to shoulder higher burdens due to a lower capacity for online learning. The effect has caused dropout rates to increase and school completion rates to decrease, leading to low learning outcomes. Besides learning, one of the central focuses of this discussion, the pandemic has had broader social and emotional impacts on students worldwide—with increased teenage pregnancy, economic loss, and rising absenteeism and dropouts.
Lost ground due to the pandemic
Grounds have been lost on many fronts due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many families lost income due to the pandemic, which at the same time forced children to enter the workforce or marry earlier. The pandemic stresses the global system and children and teachers bear these impacts. Girls are more likely to carry a more significant burden of domestic and caretaker responsibilities during a crisis, as in the case of the pandemic, leaving them little time for schooling. During the pandemic, teenage pregnancies increased due to school closures, which can be linked to a loss of support. There has been an increased risk of sexual exploitation because of financial instability and a lack of education about sexual and reproductive health. School-going mothers face enormous challenges and are less likely to return to school. There is also an increase in gender-based violence and the risk of forced marriage of girls and young women during the coronavirus. Children were not attending school, and even if they were attending school, there were prolonged absences, adversely affecting their social and behavioral development. These threats will have life-altering consequences for millions of children worldwide, where they risk losing millions of dollars of their lifetime earnings in today’s value.
Prospect: Ensuring ground not lost again
There are a lot of prospects leading to recovery from the adverse effects of the coronavirus when specific actions are taken and implemented. To recover from the negative impacts, including economic loss, unemployment, and teenage pregnancy the coronavirus poses on the world community, students need support as they recover from the academic and social-emotional impacts. Furthermore, student needs must be identified and encourage families and teachers to reengage with learning, providing conducive learning environments and recommitting to quality education for every child. Literature suggests that even an end to the pandemic could keep most secondary school-aged girls out of school, so investing in girls’ education is a recipe for success and must be prioritized in returning to school. Girls who receive an education are more likely to lead healthy lives, earn higher incomes, and build better futures for themselves and their families. To achieve SDGs 4 and 5, emphasis must be placed on student well-being and social-emotional health, where the individual government can create policies that support students and educators. Moreover, the government must provide clear, concrete, and practical guidance on the gender-responsive implementation of global safe and orderly migration, as conflict disproportionately impacts the female population (i.e., women and girls). Many countries still face numerous challenges from the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Gender-responsive migration governance must also form part of the implementation process, which is putting into perspective the importance of laws, policies, and programs that recognize and address the different experiences, needs, and vulnerabilities faced by all populations (women, men, girls, boys) and gender non-conforming migrants at all stages of migration while upholding their human rights, promoting their empowerment and advancing gender equality. It should also highlight expenditure policy recommendations to address the gender impacts of COVID-19, laying out how gender-responsive budgeting can support the strategic design and effective implementation of gender-responsive policies(UN Women, 2021). Even if achieving SDGs 4 and 5 may feel more distant away, teachers and policymakers can come together to create a better world through better schooling for all by focusing on fundamental skills and prioritizing underserved groups and vulnerable populations.
January 2023: Kids and their teachers and parents at BackToSchool program gathering
Gender equality has been recognized and affirmed as a precondition for realizing Sustainable Development Goal 5. Goal 5 is not just to promote gender equality but a promise to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. There is a need to move from commitment to action to implement platforms that will ensure the achievement of the SDGs for women and girls, where their needs and potential will not be ignored. The platform should include an action plan that promotes the economic rights of women and girls by calling for equal pay and equal rights, decent work and conditions, and ownership and control over economic resources—such as land, property, technology, and financial services (UN Women, 2016). In other words, while it is true that there is a critical need for adequate public health preparedness and response plans to address the impact of coronavirus, the plans should integrate the rights, needs, and health of women, girls, and gender minorities.
Getting the Sustainable Development Goals back on track will require education stakeholders, supported by the national Governments, to implement organized gender-responsive policy measures (Getting SDG 5 Back on Track, 2022). There is a need, also, to identify the key lessons learned from the COVID-19 response and intervention and make concrete recommendations that can strengthen the gender sensitivity of crisis response and recovery efforts. Reflecting on those past intervention and response strategies will enhance resilience and preparedness for future crises, reinvigorate commitments to gender equality, and get the SDGs back on track. Furthermore, there is a need to bring together a panel of policymakers, in the presence of healthcare professionals, educators, and civil society actors, to assess where the world stands on SDG 5 and to analyze previous interventions and responses for COVID-19 from a gender perspective. Doing so will chart the agenda for recovery from the pandemic and achieving Sustainable Development Goals.
Conclusion
With barely less than eight(8) years to attain the Sustainable Development Goals, the world needs to be on track amid the devastating coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. Rising economic and political insecurity, progress on equal educational opportunity, and gender equality have failed to move forward—with a growing backlash against women’s rights, and education has threatened freedoms and protections. If the global community does not commit to achieving this goal, gender equality and equitable education opportunities will remain unrealized. The time is Now to act and invest in education and women and girls.