On Wednesday, Feb. 10, a panel of education experts from Kenya, Canada and the U.S. will gather virtually to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on girls’ education in Kenya and beyond at the next talk in the Reciprocal Learning in Times of Crisis monthly colloquium series.
The session takes place at 9:30 a.m. EDT/5:30 p.m. EAT via Zoom.
Since March 2020, experts have decried the threat that COVID-19 poses to girls’ education around the globe. According to the Malala Fund, 20 million adolescent girls may never return to school after lockdowns, including up to half of refugee girls in secondary school (2020). The United Nations estimates that the pandemic could result in seven million unintended pregnancies (UN, 2020). These statements reflect anxiety that the coronavirus will exacerbate girls’ vulnerabilities and imperil decades of progress toward gender equitable education.
In this session, panellists will consider:
1) the gendered construction of risk in international and national discourses on COVID-19 and education;
2) the lived experiences of young women as they navigate schooling amidst a pandemic in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camps; and
3) the possibilities for interventions to mitigate the full range of challenges facing girls who seek to return to – and stay in – school.
The panel, which will be moderated by York University PhD candidate Hanan Duri, includes:
- Sharareh Kashi – PhD candidate, York University
- Rachel Silver – assistant professor, Faculty of Education, York University
- Alyssa Morley – postdoctoral research associate, Michigan State University
- Priscilla Ndegwa – lecturer, Kenyatta University
- Dahabo Ibrahim – MEd student, York University campus in Dadaab, Kenya
- Joseph Mutua – Kenya Equity in Education Project
Reciprocal Learning in Times of Crisis is a monthly colloquium series on the intersections of refugee education, anti-Black racism, and COVID-19 in Canada and East Africa. The series is presented by York University’s Borderless Higher Education for Refugees (BHER) Project, Faculty of Education, and Centre for Refugee Studies.
Join the Zoom session at https://yorku.zoom.us/j/92694835883?pwd=T0w0cloyN1U1ZFVvZGplRjl4MWJ1Zz09.