Educating girl-child in Bauchi state

By SANI ADAMU
Posted: Monday, August 2, 2010

A UNICEF statistics shows that of the 10 million school-age children currently out of school in Nigeria, more than half are girls, mostly from the northern part of the country.
Dr Robert Lim-Lim, UNICEF’s Deputy Country Representative, describes the situation as “just bad”.
“We must seek ways to ensure that the Nigerian girl-child is educated like her male counterpart if we are to meet the target of becoming one of the top 20 economies in the world by 2020,” says Lim-Lim.
According to him, a staggering figure of 10 million children out of school is bad for a country as rich as Nigeria.
“Educating girls in particular, is the basis for any sound economic and social development, says the UNICEF chief.
This, perhaps, underscores the emphasis given to girl-child education by the Bauchi State governor’s wife, Hajiya Aisha Isa Yuguda.
Inaugurating her pet project, the Nigerian Girl-Child Initiative in Bauchi State, Yuguda pleaded with traditional rulers in the state to help boost the programme by encouraging and prevailing on their subjects to educate the girl-child.
She counseled the people on the dangers associated with girl-child street hawking, saying that both Christianity and Islam encouraged education regardless of gender differences.
Yuguda said women need education to be relevant in the contemporary World, noting that educating the girl-child is a key component for achieving women empowerment as well as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
She also warned parents against early marriage, adding that it is capable of dashing the potential of the girl-child in addition to its health implications.
Yuguda’s concern for the wellbeing of the girl-child has a collaborator, as the Late Emir of Bauchi, Alhaji Suleiman Adamu, had a few weeks ago before his demise offered to lead the campaign against early marriage and street hawking.
Adamu described as ‘’very callous” a situation where parents send their female children to hawk under the guise of acquiring items for their wedding.
He said that educating the girl-child would help to secure a future for the womenfolk.
The late emir, however, advocated for the establishment of more girls’ colleges in Bauchi State to bridge the educational gap between boys and girls.
To boost the effort of the wife, Gov. Isa Yuguda said the state government had approved the establishment of six special schools for married women in the state.
He said that the state had also released more than N40 million to UNICEF and UNESCO as part of its counterpart funding for the various educational intervention schemes to enhance school enrolment with emphasis on girls.
The governor also offered to teach economics in some selected girls secondary schools as part of efforts to enhance girl-child education in the state.
All the efforts appear to be yielding fruit, as records from the Bauchi State Ministry of Education, show a steady improvement in girl-child enrolment in schools.
Hajiya Talatu Barwa, the State Commissioner for Education, lends credence to the feat achieved in girl-child education in the state.
“I am also happy to report that the state has recorded 45 per cent reduction in street hawking by girls.
“This is also made possible through the various intervention and empowerment programmes designed to enhance the economic status of women, especially those in the rural areas.
“The Yuguda administration has also made remarkable impact in the improvement of the quality of life of the girl-child through a collaborative, inter-sectoral approach to girls’ education.
“In 2009, the project targeted 20 per cent increase in enrolment in primary and Junior Secondary School (JSS), with particular emphasis on girl-child enrolment of 10 per cent and 15 per cent in primary and JSS levels respectively.
“Today, we have recorded three per cent decrease in gender gaps and 50 per cent increase in the number of girl enrolment in the Integrated Quranic Education Institutions.
“We have also recorded 30 per cent increase in the total transition of girls from primary to JSS level,” Barwa says.
Interestingly, nomadic girls are also not left out in the campaign to boost girl-child education in the state.
Alhaji Sanusi Muhammad, the Senior Special Assistant on Media to the governor, told NAN that more than N215 million has so far been spent to boost the programme among the nomadic population in the state.
The gesture, according to him, is to enable the nomadic girls to benefit maximally from the federal government’s initiative on nomadic education.
“One of the problems of nomadic education during the previous dispensation was inadequate budgetary provision, as only N15 million was provided for nomadic education before May 2007.
Muhammad restates the commitment of the state government to the provision of a conducive learning environment and facilities to nomadic schools across the 20 local government areas.
He says already, machinery had been put in place to ensure the immediate rehabilitation of all dilapidated nomadic institutions in the state, adding that the overhaul would also include replacement of obsolete facilities in such institutions.
According to him, text-books worth N30 million have been provided for all the nomadic primary schools across the state.
“Also, two vehicles were provided to ensure effective monitoring and supervision of the schools.
“For proper understanding of issues and articulation of policies relating to the nomadic education programme, the state government has engaged the services of a consultant to advise it on how to improve on the sector.
“Government has also established a nomadic education agency and provided it with a befitting office complex and furniture at the cost of N20.7 million.
“While the initial girl-child education pilot scheme has been replicated in all the 20 local government areas of the state, the administration is also providing free feeding for all female children to guarantee school retention of girls,’’ Muhammad adds.
Social analysts have however, attributed the preference to boys’ education and distaste for girls’ education by some parents in the state to wrongful interpretations of religious teachings and ignorance.
Others, however, blame it on poverty, ``Some parents with many children cannot afford to shoulder the financial burden of educating all their children and, as such, they will prefer to educate the boys on the assumption that they will be more useful to them in future,” says Malam Garba Musa, a secondary school principal.
According to Musa, the trend is more prevalent in the north, especially in the rural areas. ‘’Because of our poor economic status, some of us often rely on the dowry paid on our daughters to sustain the family,” says Malam Abubakar Umaru, a peasant farmer.
But as religious and traditional leaders strive to improve the situation, analysts suggest the need by government at all levels to take stringent measures against parents who withdraw their female children from school without cogent reason.
Street hawking by school-age girls and early marriage, they say, should be outlawed in the country.
This, they say, is the surest way to protect the future of the girl-child in Nigeria.
Sani is of news agency of nigeria.