For a long time the boy child has been highly valued and given priority on matters related to education as opposed to the girl child.
As the world celebrates advancement in technology, gender equality, improved eating habits among households, the problems of the girl child are yet to be fully addressed, especially in rural areas where law enforcers hardly set their feet.
And as the teachers strike comes to an unceremonious end as they resume work on Monday after four weeks absence from classes, students in primary and secondary schools are extremely happy but the girls, especially those in the rural areas of Kisumu seem to be the happiest of them all.
While the boys enjoyed themselves at home, meeting with friends and relatives, playing games or revising with their peers, the girls on the other hand assumed parental duties.
As parents in other areas especially in towns fumed over the strike and dreaded the day it will end so that their daughters and sons can go back to school, those in the rural setup saw it as a God given chance to be relieved of their domestic duties, and probably have helpers on their farms, market stalls or representatives in their daily or weekly chamas.
The girls had to wake up before everyone else, wash utensils used the previous night, prepare breakfast, wash clothes, fetch water and firewood, prepare lunch, and the list is endless, while the boys relaxed with friends.
Girls around the world are experiencing gender discrimination from the age of just seven years old, with one in 10 primary school girls reported being unhappy being a girl, doubling to one in five by the time they reach secondary school.
This contrast with less than one per cent of boys at primary school and less than three per cent of boys at secondary schools.
These figures have been published in an interim report from the Global Campaign for Education (GCE).
While boys could visit a relative friend or classmate, the freedom of the girls is not there.
Lack of opportunities as compared to boys, harassment and parental preference for their male siblings has demoralised them hence they cannot compete favourably with the boys on matters academics.
In my neighbourhood, Kisumu West, Karateng’ Nyawita village, I have seen girls wake up very early in the morning, work tirelessly till afternoon and thereafter join their mothers at the market to help them in their kiosks until late in the evening.
The question that rings in my mind is; at what time do these girls find time to relax, read or even join their friends for games?
Gender discrimination in education, violation of women rights and extensive disparities between girls and boys at home and in schools are issues the county and national governments should be addressing instead of their daily politics that Kenyans are used to.
In this 21st century, we should have achieved gender equality in schools, workplaces and homes in order to end gender discrimination.