In addition to the many challenges documented in the African child's records, the situation of the girl child is generally more precarious.

Martha Kasela, a member of the Junior National Council from the Zambezi Region, highlights education as a particular area of concern, frequently observing girls' absences from school for various reasons.

"Some learners have been absent from school because they don't have pads to wear to school. When they come here, some boys are looking at some girls, and maybe they will be looking at their skirts, so some girls are ashamed to come to school because they don't have pads to wear to school. So when they come here, they will be absolutely at home when they are in school. They are having many challenges, like not coming to school every day; they are coming some days but not every day."

Kasela further emphasises that traditional cultural norms and beliefs, such as the practise of early marriages, have detrimental effects on affected girls who are forced into these situations by their parents.

"A girl child is allowed to come back to school even when she is pregnant, and a girl child is allowed to come to school even when she doesn't have pads; in our school, our life skills teacher is providing pads for the girl child."

Kasela appeals to the government to provide girls in school with sanitary pads, saying it is a necessity.

Also speaking at the occasion was Zambezi Chief Regional Officer, Regina Ndopu-Lubinda.

"For instance, if a girl child goes to school, when that child comes back, unlike the boy child, that child is expected to go and start cooking. Now, whether she has had a difficult time with her subjects, she will not have time to revise, she will not have time to consult with others, so it becomes very problematic that the time they spent to actually continue learning given at home becomes impacted because there is an expectation that you as the girl child should go and cook, you as the girl child should go and clean, and in some cases, you as the girl child should be the one who takes care of sickly elderly parents and sickly children in the home."

Ndopu-Lubinda highlights that the Zambezi Regional Council has implemented several programmes aimed at addressing the repercussions of challenges encountered by children in schools. These initiatives include community education campaigns against gender-based violence, which encompass not only physical assault but also emotional abuse and the denial of certain responsibilities.