When Poverty Interrupts Education: Practical Ways to Keep Girls Learning
Last month, I attended a gathering of women where we discussed several issues affecting young women and girls informally during our catch-up time. As the conversation deepened, we began sharing specific experiences of girls facing difficult circumstances. One woman shared that she had spoken with more than two girls who confessed that they had gone days without a proper meal. The difficult economic situation had also forced them to stop going to school. I have had the opportunity to interact with one of these girls personally.
She is brilliant. Her school results were excellent. Yet, despite her academic potential, she has been unable to continue her education this year because her parents cannot afford the costs. She is a teenager who should be preparing for her primary leaving examination. Instead, she is at home, and her dream of becoming a doctor has been shelved. When I sat down for a lengthy conversation with her, she walked me through how the year had unfolded since we first met in the second quarter.
Listening to her made me reflect on how easily we can underestimate the magnitude of a problem until someone shares their personal experience with us. We often discuss education through statistics, enrollment figures, and dropout rates. But behind every number is a child whose circumstances, opportunities, and aspirations deserve our attention.
The reality behind the numbers
I recently read MOHAC Africa’s publication, The State of Education in Africa 2026: Statistics and Challenges. The figures are sobering and more than statistics: according to the publication, sub-Saharan Africa accounts for nearly 30% of the world’s out-of-school children, with approximately 98 million to 100 million children and young people aged 6–18 excluded from formal learning.
They reflect the realities of children whose education is interrupted by poverty, financial hardship, and barriers that families struggle to overcome. These numbers became even more real when I listened to a teenage girl who has the ability and ambition to succeed academically but cannot afford to remain in school. Her story became a reminder that behind every education statistic is a child whose potential deserves a chance.
Earlier this year, I wrote about my interactions with several schools benefiting from our mentorship programme. The schools reported very low learner enrolment, despite putting strategies in place to encourage parents to bring their children back to school. Poverty and the hidden costs of education were evident barriers. For families already struggling to meet their basic needs, keeping a child in school can become increasingly difficult, and when resources are insufficient, education is often one of the things families struggle to sustain.
So what happens to a girl who is forced to leave school, even temporarily? How does she maintain her confidence, continue learning, and remain connected to the future she has imagined for herself? As the year draws to a close, I have been thinking about practical ways to help girls who are out of school remain engaged in learning while they wait for an opportunity to return, with these two practical examples.
1. Turning unused textbooks into opportunities for continued learning
During my conversation with the young girl, I was encouraged by the activities she had taken up to keep herself occupied. She had joined singing classes, participated in youth activities, and continued helping with household chores. These activities had given her structure throughout the months.
However, I wanted us to think beyond keeping her busy. How could she continue working towards her educational dream, even when returning to school seemed far-fetched? I asked her a simple question: among her friends from primary school, who was now in a candidate class? She identified one friend. I challenged her to arrange a meeting with this friend and have a conversation about what Primary Eight was like. I then suggested that, after her friend completes the primary leaving examination, she should ask whether she could have the subject books to use for her own studies.
The idea is for her to begin studying independently in December 2026.
And yes, her friend agreed to hand over the books. It may appear to be a small gesture, but I see an opportunity in it. A set of textbooks that might otherwise remain unused could help another girl continue learning while she is out of school. This experience has made me think about how we use educational resources within our communities.
When children complete one level of education and move to the next, what happens to the books and other learning materials they no longer need? Many of these materials could become valuable resources for children whose families cannot afford new ones.
Imagine a community where parents, learners and schools organise the collection and sharing of used textbooks. A girl who has left school because of financial difficulties could access books, create a study routine and continue preparing for the next opportunity to resume her education. Such an arrangement would not replace formal schooling, teachers or the support children receive in the classroom. But it could help prevent a temporary interruption from becoming a complete disconnection from learning.
For the girl I have been engaging with, the next step is to see how she uses the books and how I can support her during this period away from school, as her dream of becoming a doctor has not disappeared. The challenge is to help her remain connected to it.
2. When a family cannot afford to educate all its children at once
Another example comes from my university days. One of my roommates once shared how her mother managed to educate the five of them despite having limited financial resources.
Her approach was simple: she organised their schooling in rotation.
While one child stayed at home, another would attend school. The intention was to continue rotating the opportunity as the family saved what it could and prepared for the next child to return to school. It took years for all five children to complete their education. Eventually, however, they all progressed through primary school to university and finally employment to stand in the gap.
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Her mother’s experience stayed with me because it demonstrated how determination, planning and the careful use of limited resources can help families navigate difficult circumstances. Of course, rotating school attendance is not an ideal solution. Every child deserves continuous access to quality education, and time away from school can create learning gaps, delay progression, and increase the risk of permanent dropout.
Yet, for families facing severe financial constraints, this story raises an important question: what practical options can help parents protect their children’s educational futures when they cannot meet every cost at once?
- Could families benefit from better financial planning support, community education funds, targeted bursaries, or arrangements that help children return to school after an interruption?
- Could schools and community organisations identify vulnerable households early enough to connect them with available assistance before a child drops out?
We need to explore these questions without treating interrupted schooling as an acceptable long-term alternative but rather to help every child return to, and remain in, school.
Beyond keeping girls occupied: protecting the continuity of learning
These two examples have led me to think more deeply about what happens between a child leaving school and eventually returning. Keeping girls engaged in singing classes, youth activities, and household responsibilities can give them structure and opportunities to participate in their communities. But we must also ask how we can help them sustain their academic progress and retain their sense of possibility.
A girl who is out of school still needs opportunities to learn, encouragement to pursue her ambitions, and a realistic pathway back into formal education, and this requires us to look beyond the individual child.
Parents need support to understand their financial circumstances, plan where possible, and explore practical ways to sustain their children’s learning.
Schools can help identify learners at risk of dropping out, facilitate the sharing of learning materials and maintain contact with children who are temporarily absent.
Communities and organisations can explore textbook-sharing initiatives, peer-learning arrangements and targeted support for vulnerable households to keep the girls in school. And maybe, with time, the number of girls dropping out of school because of poverty can be significantly reduced.
Policymakers and development partners need to consider how education financing, social protection and targeted interventions can reduce the financial barriers that prevent children from enrolling, attending and completing school.
These approaches will not solve every problem. Textbooks cannot replace teachers, self-study cannot fully replicate classroom learning, and household planning cannot compensate for the absence of adequate financial resources. But practical interventions can help sustain learning while broader solutions are pursued.
What happens next for the girl I met?
I have connected with her parent and expressed my intention to have a conversation to better understand the family’s financial circumstances, the barriers affecting this education, and the strategies that might help her return to school. I want to understand what is possible within the family’s current reality and where additional support might make a difference. This conversation matters because we cannot assume that every family faces the same challenges or that one strategy will work for everyone.
For this girl, accessing her friend’s Primary Eight textbooks is one immediate step. Understanding her family’s circumstances and exploring a sustainable route back to school are equally important.
I intend to follow up on how she copes with being out of school and whether the arrangement helps her continue learning. Her story is a reminder that educational exclusion is not always about a child’s ability, interest, or willingness to learn. Sometimes, a child is ready to learn, but the resources needed to make that possible are simply unavailable. And when that happens, our response should not be to lower our expectations of what that child can become. It should be to look for ways to keep the door to education open. As opportunities to support girls’ education become increasingly difficult to secure, we need to have honest conversations about what families can do, what communities can organise and what institutions must provide.
1. How can we help children continue learning when the economic situation makes school unaffordable?
2. What can we do with the educational resources already available in our homes and communities?
3. And how can we ensure that a girl who leaves school today still has a realistic opportunity to return tomorrow?
Sometimes, the first step is simple: a conversation with a parent, a set of borrowed textbooks, or a community member willing to help a child remain engaged in learning.
But these small interventions must connect to something bigger: a collective commitment to ensuring that financial hardship does not permanently close the door to education. A girl’s circumstances may interrupt her schooling, but they should not determine the limits of her future.
