GRASSROOTS FIX

The release of UNESCO's latest Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report should be welcomed as a milestone for education in Africa. After decades of investment, policy reforms and advocacy, the continent achieved gender parity in primary school enrolment in 2021 and is edging closer to parity in lower secondary education. Yet the report also reminds us that progress is far from complete. In 2024, Africa still had only 93 girls enrolled in upper secondary school for every 100 boys. That is an achievement worth celebrating. But celebration should never become complacency. The danger with the language of "gender parity" is that it can create the illusion that the education challenge has largely been solved. Numbers can tell us how many children enter school, but they cannot tell us whether education systems are fair, whether learners acquire meaningful skills, or whether the most vulnerable children are receiving the support they need. Kenya illustrates this contr...

In Transmara South, learning is supposed to be a ladder out of poverty. Instead, for many schoolgirls, it has become a daily struggle marked by shame, silence and impossible choices. In classrooms scattered across Chelchel and Olesoilal primary schools, basic menstrual hygiene needs remain unmet; a challenge that teachers say is quietly pushing some girls out of education altogether. At Chelchel and Olesoilal, teenage girls are walking to class without underwear or sanitary towels. Teachers describe the situation as persistent and worsening during certain times of the month, with absenteeism rising and some learners eventually dropping out. The pain behind the statistics is visible in everyday school life. Inside crowded classrooms at Chelchel, some girls sit withdrawn, avoiding attention whenever menstruation is discussed. Teachers say the anxiety is not only about discomfort, but about stigma. The fear of being laughed at or exposed in front of classmates. “I feel so bad ...