By Yakubu Salisu, Kano
Education, the bedrock of every society for decades, has remained an unattainable dream for children, especially the girl-child in some remote parts of northern Nigeria.
In recent times, the wave of insecurity in the country has further threatened the dream of these children of attaining formal education due to incessant attacks on their communities by bandits, insurgents and other criminal elements leading to closure of the already partially operating schools.
This is the story of how the brave communities of Batsari Local Government Area of Katsina State defies insecurity to keep their girls in school.
According to the Chair-person, Batsari Mothers’s Association, Mariya Hasana Wagini, after exposure to the importance of the girl-child education by GEP3, the association launched a campaign targeting mothers within their communities on the need to enroll their girls in school and it has so far been successful.
“Through the Girls’ Education Project (GEP3), we have come to realize the importance of the female child’s education, which cannot be overemphasized. Educating a girl child means educating the whole society and this I can tell you for certain; it is easy to inculcate moral values into your educated daughters who are the mothers of tomorrow and in turn, impact such values unto the next generation”.
The knowledge acquired by a girl, helps her to articulate positive decisions on issues that affect her life such as the choice of whom to marry, her matrimonial home, what business or job to engage in and how to run her home”.
“Prior to the GEP3 project, the Batsari motor park was always jam packed with girls hawking different wares for survival but we were able to move these children off the streets back to school and alas! We were hit by insecurity, a situation that forced many schools to close, while some children got displaced with their parents but we refuse to be deterred by these challenges and ensure we followed up with these children anywhere they resettle with their families and enroll them in schools in their new and temporary host communities and I can tell you, we are even battling with over population in some of our schools at the moment despite the insecurity challenges”.
“The project, funded by the Foreign Commonwealth and development Office (FCDO) of the UK and implemented by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has significantly impacted the lives of our daughters.
To complement the GEP3, we contribute funds among ourselves and sometimes reach out to prominent persons within our communities to raise funds to run the campaigns for parents to release their girl-child to go to school and we hope this project will further enhance the education of more girls,” Wagini added.
Alh. Ibrahim Bello Ruma, Galadiman Ruma and Chairman School Based Management Committees (SBMCs) Batsari LGA also applauded the UNICEf for implementing the project in their local government which contributes to the growth of education for female children.
He said, the provision of writing materials, school uniforms and cash support has further motivated many parents to release their female children who before now were used to generate funds for some families to go to school to acquire modern knowledge like their male counter-parts.
“We now have higher enrollment of the girl-child into schools due to the intervention of the FCDO”.
“To show our own commitment and appreciation, we the SBMCs and the mothers’ association met with the traditional leaders in Batsari and the Executive Secretary of education in Batsari and ensured we merge fleeing children from violent prone areas with children in safe schools.
“We will continue to ensure the girls remain in schools and their teachers are also encouraged to give them the best and not to be distracted by the situations we find ourselves in”, said Bello.
To corroborate their stories, the executive secretary of education in Batsari Local Government Area of Katsina State, Dr. Garba Salisu explained that through the intervention, some dilapidated schools which include Wagini primary school, Karere Primary school and Kandawa primary school were renovated.
He said for fairness purposes, the funds meant for the schools were directly paid into a special account opened for that purpose in conjunction with the school’s SBMCs while those of the children were directly paid into the parents’ account.
“I met the GEP3 program running when I was posted here and some of our schools in bad shape were renovated using funds from the project while parents got N20,000 per child to support them in getting their female children to school”.
“All thanks to the Girls’ Education Project, we now have over 50% increase in the enrollment. You can imagine I visited a school at ‘Kukan Toro’ and I found a class (Pri3) with over 100 girls but only one boy in their midst.
I was impressed that such a thing could happen in our time to find a single boy in the midst of dozens of girls all dressed neatly in the new uniforms I have received twice now.
And believe me, these children are enthusiastic about school and learning processes,” Bello added.
Dr. Garba describe the SBMCs and the mothers’ association in Batsari LGA as a group of patriots dedicated to the educational development of their children especially the girl-child by working round the clock to ensure the smooth running of the project and provide constant feedback to his office on what is going on, what to improve on as well as when to do it.
Aside from the support for the girls, parents and the schools, the educationist also listed teachers as beneficiaries of the intervention.
“Our teachers also benefit from this GEP3 intervention through training sessions such as the Reading and Numeracy Activity (RANA) program to further equip them with new skills for better output of the teaching and learning processes.
“We hope for more collaboration and support from UNICEF and FCDO to help us reach out to more areas and girl-child,” Garba stated.