LUSAKA, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Zambia National Education Coalition, a collation of non-state actors in education, on Monday joined the rest of the world in commemorating this year's International Day of the Girl Child with a call on government to invest in digital technology to allow more girls access education in the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.
George Hamusunga, the coalition's executive director said most girls, especially in rural areas, have been unable to access learning through remote mode systems because of lack of access to digital technology.
He said despite Zambia being among the first countries in Africa to initiate remote learning platforms, the girl child has been negatively affected, resulting in high dropouts.
"The learning poverty resulting from remote learning modes negatively impacted girls more than boys. As a result of learning poverty at home, most of the girls were exposed to various risks like pregnancy, sexual abuse, early marriages and child labor," he said.
The theme for this year's commemoration is "Digital Generation: Our Generation" and the official said the theme was appropriate due to challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic which resulted in learners staying away from schools.
According to him, investing in digital technology will provide continuing in learning especially for the girls who are mostly at risk of dropping out of school especially in developing countries.
He said the alternative learning modes have been affected by limited access to computers, smartphones, internet, adding that only children from rich farmers are able to benefit.
The Zambia National Women lobby (ZNWL), an organization fighting for women empowerment, said it has continued to work towards promoting equity in cyberspace by acting vices such as cyberbullying, hate speech and online harassment especially against the girl child.
"Everyone must be free to utilize digital platforms without fear," the organization said in a statement.
The path to girls' digital equality is steep, with a massive gap in internet use spanning geographies and generations growing from 11 percent in 2013 to 17 percent six years later, according to an earlier statement from the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued ahead of the International Day of the Girl Child.
In more than two-thirds of all countries, girls make up only 15 percent of graduates in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, said Guterres. Enditem
