Covid threatens to steal education right of girls: Commonwealth Secy-Gen

New Delhi, Dec 9 : On the eve of Human Rights Day, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland said on Wednesday that Covid-19 has robbed people around the world of loved ones, livelihoods and so many of the usual certainties and comforts of everyday life.
It is also threatening to steal from millions of girls their right to education, she said. These are girls who could grow up to develop vaccines for diseases, tackle social injustices or lead the fight against climate change, she added.
But the global pandemic, she said, is depriving them of the benefits which education and training confer on individuals, their communities and the wider world.
Girls generally experience more barriers to education than their male counterparts, and this has been exacerbated yet further by the Covid-19 pandemic and the necessary restrictions imposed to limit its spread.
According to Scotland, schools have closed and students have been forced to learn from home as a result of lockdown measures. Evidence suggests that girls are returning to school at a slower rate than boys, or sometimes not at all.
The international organisation ‘Girls Not Brides’ reports that as few as 12 per cent of the households in the poorest countries have internet access at home, while access to mobile internet is 26 per cent lower for women and girls than for their male peers.