Rakiya A.Muhammad
What many young girls in Binji and Shagari Local government areas of Sokoto State see in Hajiya Hafsat Abubakar and Hajiya Kulu Modi are quintessential role models. One of the girls, who was then out of -school, did not mince words. “I want to be like you,” she told Kulu, who subsequently approached her parents, and they enrolled her in the school.
Kulu is one mentor in Shagari trained in strategies and facilitation skills for Girls -for -Girls (G4G), an initiative aimed at increasing confidence, hygiene, and good morals among girls, for improved retention, transition, and learning and to attract out-of-school girls to return to school.
Hafsat and Kulu are among women offering robust role models and catalysing progress for girls’ education in Nigeria, where statistics show one in five of the world’s 129 million out-of-school children is in the country.
“Nigeria Lags on equalising school attendance between boys and girls,” UNICEF Education Manager Miriam Mareso notes at a Media Dialogue on Girls’ Education in Sokoto. “Common gender norms continue to put girls at a disadvantage, lead them to drop out of school at higher rates, push parents to prioritise the education of their sons over their daughters, and engage in harmful practices such as child marriage.” Mareso adds a poor girl born in northern Nigeria faces daunting challenges.
“She will have on average, less than a 50% chance of enrolling in primary school and less than a 30% chance of transiting to secondary school,” the Education Manager explains. “If the girl comes from a rural community or a poor household, she is doubly disadvantaged. A girl from the poorest wealth quintile has a 24% chance of enrolling in primary school and only a 9% chance of enrolling in secondary compared to an 87% chance and 79% chance, respectively, for girls in the South-South region.”
However, from principals, headteachers, school-based management committees (SBMC) members, teachers, and mothers’ associations, to mentors, women in Sokoto are bracing to play critical roles in expanding access to quality education. The women are working to ensure high-quality teaching and learning environments towards improving students’ learning outcomes. They’re leveraging their voices, leadership, and influence to make a difference in the lives of many out-of-schoolgirls and boost retention in school.
To build the capacity of women, vastly underrepresented in school leadership roles, the Girls Education Project (GEP) Phase 3, implemented by the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF), trained them in various intervention areas and increased leadership spaces for females.
GEP3, funded by the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office, FCDO, trained 2815 female school-based management committee (SBMC) members in 811 primary and junior secondary schools (JSS) in Sokoto State; 14,382 Mothers Associations in 330 primary schools;758 mentors in 380 schools and 18,082 in 380 primary/ JSS for the Girls for Girls (G4G) initiative.
It established the High-Level Women Advocates (HiLWA), who have been deploying their knowledge and skills for advocacy at all levels of girls’ education.
The bottom line was to ensure more girls in the six targeted states in northern Nigeria complete basic education and gain skills for life and livelihoods. The states include Sokoto, Zamfara, Nigeria, Bauchi, Katsina and Kano.
Hafsat is a female SBMC member whose capacity they built under GEP3. The MSC Mathematics graduate who did her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in the Binji local government area is a shining example to young girls in northern Nigeria.
“We collaborate with Mothers’ Associations on community enrolment drives and campaigns. We ensure that all our females, especially those hawking, are in school,” states Hafsat, a volunteer at the Junior Secondary School (JSS) Binji.
“We always sensitise at social events, such as marriages and naming ceremonies. We give them examples of others such as their neighbours or community members whose children are in school.”
Hafsat, a married woman who studied up to university education, says marriage should not stop a girl’s education. “A girl in the community was preparing for marriage after completing her secondary education. I told her husband -marriage should not stop education. I gave the example of myself, and he agreed with me,” she reveals.
“I always cite an example of myself when I talk about girls’ education, and I tell them I need every child to become more than me.”
She notes the response has been very excellent. “They are always happy with my explanations and appreciate the importance of education as the key to life.”
Asiya Abubakar, a teacher at GDSS Sifawa, is another woman championing girls’ education at the grassroots. She projects a safe and secure environment for girls in schools.
“As a beneficiary of GEP3 training, it has better equipped me to support and encourage girls to complete their education,” she states.
“As women, we listen attentively to any issues bordering them and give proper guidance to the girls. Many of them confide in female teachers. Those who are shy go to the prefect who reports to us.”
She notes part of the GEP3 initiative is the provision of Education Support Kits and Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) skills to increase attendance and retention in JSS.
“Hitherto, girls do not come to school during their menstrual period. So, to address this, we opened pad banks in school to avoid skipping school. Now, they do not go home because of menstruation. We tackle any other issues that we can handle in school.”
Hajiya Amina Aliyu Abubakar, Principal Government Girls Day Secondary School Bodinga, one of the GEP3-supported schools, says GEP intervention has made her a better school manager and leader. She notes the project had facilitated girl-friendly learning environments and created better retention and demand for new access.
With passionate teachers such as Fatima Bala, many parents are no longer reluctant to send their daughters to school.
Fatima is one of 486 females out of 6,000 teachers for the GEP3 intervention to improve their capacity to deliver effective learning for girls and boost pupils’ learning achievements in Sokoto State.
She speaks on the impact of the girls’ education initiatives, delighted at her accomplishments.
“I have been part of several pieces of training and seminars. The most interesting of them is the capacity building on numeracy. Before they introduced it, I did not know what to do to ease learning for the pupils,” discloses the teacher at Marake Primary School Shagari.
“Many pupils did not also know how to count very well, but now they do. My learners are more brilliant now. I am so happy. I have a teaching aid, and the numeracy project has motivated children to attend school more frequently as they enjoy the classes.”
According to her, they also had training in Reading and Literacy Activity (RANA).” I am glad about what I learnt and what I can now do,” she asserts with a great sense of achievement.”
A mother of five in the locality, Umm Aisha acknowledges the efforts of women in encouraging girl education. “Their efforts have given us a better view of western education and changed our attitudes towards girls’ enrolment and completion,” she says.
“We want to see our girls further their education to become teachers, school administrators, medical doctors, nurses, and other professions where we see women excelling.”
Safiya Tahir Abdullahi is the Education Specialist UNICEF Sokoto Field Office. “What GEP3 did was to have an intervention called Leadership training, and through that, we have been able to train different leaders “, she explains.
The Education Specialist adds: “That leadership training has built the capacity of headteachers to be good managers and provide leadership.”
“Also, teachers received training on how to teach and manage students within the class so that they do not leave any child without making sure they are part and parcel of the class. “
For the SBMC, she says, “we trained them on their roles and responsibility so that they can support in schools’ management.”
Key results of GEPS show 1.3million girls enrolled in Primary and IQS exceeding the target of 1m in six states since 2012.
UNICEF Chief of Sokoto Field Office, Dr Maryam Darwesh Said, highlights some achievements of GEP3 in Sokoto State.
“From progress annual census data in Sokoto State, we have about 44 per cent girls enrolled since 2012 in the GEP-supported schools. This 44 per cent equally translates to over 400,000 girls .it is quite a big step considering we were in very low numbers when we began,” she discloses.
“We had almost 6,000 teachers who had their capacity built for this project and here we have 486 of these teachers being females. It translates to about 8%. I know it sounds small, but every journey starts with a step. We aim to continue attracting more teachers into the capacity-building programmes.”
She adds the GEP3 project trained about 880 Integrated Quranic Schools facilitators. “Of these facilities, we only have about 53 females. We hope to encourage more females to enrol in this training.”
She points out UNICEF invest a lot in teacher training programmes.”But in this case, we went a step further to be sensitive that there are girls in those classrooms, and effective learning tools should also consider how to ensure those girls stay in school.”
Sokoto State Commissioner for Education, Alhaji Bello Guiwa, describes as commendable UNICEF’s contribution to girls’ education since its inception in 2012. “It assisted in the provision of quality education, and it increased access, retention and completion of education, especially for girls,” Guiwa also applauds the project for promoting women as role models and advocates for girls’ education and increasing women’s participation in education.
As the FCDO-funded girls’ education project ends in September this year, he assures the state government has developed a sustainability implementation Plan, part of which is to increase women’s participation in education decision-making positions.
