Education is a fundamental human right but for a vast majority of children from marginalized communities, this right often goes unacknowledged especially for girls. This therefore leaves them with no choice but to opt for ways and means that will end up jeopardizing their future. The Other Side Foundation (TOSF) has the foresight of this plight not just for a girl child but a boy child too, hence provides free education, health care and nutrition for orphans and vulnerable children from the community it serves.

TOSF does not only believe that, education can change a child’s future by giving them a chance to break free from poverty, access better jobs and inevitably create a brighter future but it also acknowledges the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG4) that endorses girls completing their education, become financially independent and active in decision-making and leadership positions. The truth is, without education, most vulnerable children will likely remain trapped in the cycles of poverty that might last for generations to come if not addressed forthwith. It might shock you to know that across Sub-Saharan Africa, 28 million girls are out of school and Zambia is not an exception in this case. Owing to this reason, there is an urgent need to see to it that our female children have access to education at all cost.

There is an African proverb that states that, if you educate a boy child, you educate an individual but if you educate a girl child, you educate a family and a nation. However, this proverb will only remain a theory if it is not actualized. In as much as TOSF offers free education to both genders, it looks closely at educating a girl child because young African girls have always been victims of prejudices not having access or advancing in their educational pursuits. Poverty related issues, traditional customs, mindsets of the elders and trying to find an instant solution to feeding an extra mouth not to mention other unimaginable challenges these girls face coming from impoverished backgrounds; puts them at a crossroads where they or their families begin to see education as a hinderance and/or not an instant solution to their woes. Instead these girl children fall into a trap of teen pregnancy and teen parenting or getting married off at a very early age so that the family receives a dowry from the groom which will help them financially, temporarily.
To combat this, TOSF School has created a club known as The Girls Club, where cross-cutting issues that might cause them to drop out of school are addressed. The club has been indeed of help in terms of creating awareness, sensitizing and educating these girl students on the importance of schooling. Something as unthinkable as affording sanitary pads which keeps them away from school is addressed by The Girls Club as TOSF provides sanitary pads monthly to these girls students. We are seeing results from these efforts by The Girls Club because TOSF is now sponsoring a few promising girl students from TOSF primary school to government secondary schools going right up to tertiary education. It’s a big milestone for TOSF and these young vulnerable girl students.

Some of you may not be aware that most youth headed

households are led by girls in Sub Saharan Africa which increases their risk of sexual exploitation and transactional sex. Being schooled and having peer support from their teachers at TOSF School helps them make informed decisions, avoiding early marriages which saves them from having children at such a tender age which leads to multiple child birth complications: obstetric fistula with long term health issues and eclampsia leading to life threatening conditions for both mother and child. The longer they stay in the education system or at learning institutions, ensures these young girls below 16 years of age, a more promising future. For instance, one of TOSF’s orphaned girl student who joined the school when she was 8 years old and was later in TOSF’s bursary program going to a government secondary school is now pursuing 2nd year medicine at a university in Lusaka, Zambia . SCHOOLING is a complete game changer for this girl compared to her friends who dropped out of school early. Some of these under 15 year old (girls) school dropouts are today mothers of three to four children whose children are also languishing in poverty. If only more female children are schooled in Sub Saharan Africa and some parts of Asia, one will never see an end to girl youth headed households, child marriages and teenage pregnancies.
Education paves a path to economic independence. In 2018 approximately 29% of adolescents aged 15 to 19 in Zambia had begun childbearing. Moreover an unschooled young girl has limited involvement in decision making, making economic decisions and to make informed sexual and productive health choices. To bring education to the next level for our girl students, added to our Values Based Education, TOSF School for Orphans and Vulnerable Children also invites different guest speakers and NGOs to give talks to our bursary students on human rights and other female related topics. This is because we at TOSF advocate that an educated female will resist gender-based violence and discrimination and can change the mindset of their communities from within.
The importance and list of advantages a girl child obtains by being schooled, is endless. Dear friends and well wishers for us at TOSF to make more girls literate, stay in school, lead and make decisions in society and upscale their skills or careers, we need your understanding of the current problems faced by these young girls in Zambia. Help us in kind or cash donations to alleviate poverty and discrimination and hindrance of young girls being schooled.