How Can We Fix What COVID-19 Has Done to India's Girls?

The Better India is proud to deliver stories that will make your day straight to your inbox. Stories of change and changemakers, and of how a strong will transforms into positive impact for the entire community.   How Can We Fix What COVID-19 Has Done to India's Girls? Hello, Like many of us have heard and have been reading, one of the most affected sections of society since the first wave of the pandemic has been the marginalised communities, particularly the young girls who have been pushed to the peripheries as far as education is concerned. Various factors, right from early marriages to parents losing their livelihoods to the extreme digital divide, have led to multiple challenges for the girls wanting to continue their education, thus leading to low enrolment numbers across the country. One might say that the strides India had made to educate its girls took a severe beating since the onset of COVID-19. But there are solutions. [With this webinar](, conducted by The Better India, Population Foundation of India and Childrens' Investment Fund Foundation, we brought to light perspectives that are helping bring girls back. And to ensure we got answers that genuinely make a difference, we assembled a panel of experts who are solving this challenge at the grassroots level, continuously working to create an impact on the ground. Whether you are one person looking to make a difference or an organisation wondering how you can have a real impact - here is some honest advice straight from those involved in the difficult task of educating girls in this country. Some of the questions we addressed include: - What has been the most significant impact of COVID-19 when it comes to girls' education? - What has been the impact of the dropout rate on girls' sexual and reproductive choices in rural India? - What kind of policy-level changes are required to reverse this? - What are some of the proven steps that have worked to bring girls back to schools in the past two years? - What role does funding play in helping organisations implement such steps? Is there a need for innovative funding models, and how could they help? [To know the answers to these questions and more, do have a look at the webinar here.]( [How Can We Fix What COVID-19 Has Done to India's Girls? ]( Meet The Experts: Dipa Nag Chowdhury: The Director Programmes at Population Foundation of India, Dipa leads the delivery of the organisation's strategic programme objectives related to sexual and reproductive health, gender development, and family planning. She is an international development professional with more than 20 years of experience in India and globally. Puja Marwaha: For the past 27 years, Puja has helped build an organisational framework for Child Rights and You (CRY). Today, Puja is the Chief Executive Officer at CRY, India's leading child rights organisation. Kumari Shibulal: is the Founder and Chairperson of the Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives. The organisation emerged from Kumari's vision to transform lives through education with initiatives like 'Vidyarakshak', which provides children of martyrs from the Central Armed Police Forces via BSF, CRPF, CISF, ITBP, SSB and Assam Rifles with scholarships and is designed to support the children till Class 12. Sonal Kapoor: The Founder Director of Protsahan India Foundation, Sonal Kapoor works on bridging the gap in childcare systems by introducing an empathy-based system to heal childhood trauma and transform girl children, who are either survivors or are at high risk of abuse, to reach their full potential. Medha Uniyal: Since 2021, Medha has been leading the strategy for Pratham's Girls and Women Programs, bridging the learning to livelihood continuum. She has also been working on Pratham's COVID-19 response. Earlier, she co-led Pratham's livelihoods-focused organisation, where she spent five years scaling and strengthening its impact.   The Book of Hope: Extraordinary Stories of Ordinary Indians While COVID ravaged the world, it also brought out the need to find hope, compassion, courage, and resilience like never before. In the extreme darkness, we searched for the beacons of light that shone through and guided our way - extraordinary Indians who never gave up, those who provided relief to helpless communities, selfless frontline workers who went the extra mile to serve the society, incredible teachers who went door-to-door just so that no underprivileged kid gets left behind, those who fed the hungry and the homeless, and so many more. This book is one more reason to believe in our country and the 1.3 billion people who inhabit it. We hope this book shows you - India is much, much better than you think.   EDITOR'S PICK [‘Saving Rs 15 Lakh, I Built My Eco-Friendly House Using Mud & Recycled Waste’]( ‘Saving Rs 15 Lakh, I Built My Eco-Friendly House Using Mud & Recycled Waste’ People called Shukoor Manapat ‘Mad man’ when he decided to construct a mud house in 2013. Even his wife and parents objected to living in a house that was made without cement or concrete. 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