An Analysis of COVID-19 Related Factors that Affect the Girl Child’s Access and Participation in Education

There have been remarkable efforts by scholars to examine the problem of gender inequalities in education, which has been working against the advancement of the girl child. This paper sought to describe how the COVID-19 pandemic has interfered with or worsened girl children’s opportunities to access, participate and succeed in primary education. This mixed method study approach utilised two parallel research instruments to gather quantitative and generate qualitative data that helped to provide answers to the research questions that guided this study. A structured survey instrument was distributed to 300 participants from forty-three rural schools in three provinces of Zimbabwe. There was evidence that the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic-imposed challenges on learners with the new normal culture of learning. Most learners did not have electronic gadgets, and bandwidth to participate in online learning. The girls more than their male counterparts encountered more challenges. Cultural practices and social status of girls rendered them vulnerable and limited opportunities regarding what they may do during the times of disasters that come through the air and other sources. The COVID-19 protocols did not address the blind spots that were activated by the cultural responses to the access and participation of the girls during the pandemic. The study recommended that authorities should crosscheck that information tied to legal instruments guiding how to act during disasters does not get overridden by cultural values and beliefs. Further research should investigate the experiences of girls living and studying in rural areas and how COVID-19 has affected the lives of the many females that live there.