Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project has announced that it will rehabilitate 614 public schools in Kano State, northwest Nigeria.
This was disclosed during the nonprofit’s courtesy visit to the Emir of Bichi, Nasiru Ado-Bayero.
The World Bank-assisted project is targeting about 38,000 girls from poor families at initial stage for conditional cash transfer, with further training of the girls in digital skills.
According to the AGILE Deputy Project Coordinator, Nasiru Abdullahi, the funds required for the project have already been credited to the accounts of the School-Based Management Committees (SBMCs) of the benefiting schools.
‘Close to N1.8 billion has been granted to the schools, which is half of what the schools will get, in order to ensure effective utilisation of the funds’, Abdullahi said.
‘Any school that finished its project will get the balance for the remaining project.
‘The money is in the account of each of the benefiting schools. A school will come to AGILE to get clearance, which it will take to the bank and withdraw the money’.
Other components of the project include an awareness campaign, advocacy, and life skills that will see girls trained in skills that would assist them to become self-reliant in their homes.
For his part, Ado-Bayero pledged his support as well as urged education stakeholders to intensify efforts in improving the capacity of teachers.
‘We are not saying construction is not good, but the teachers who will impart the knowledge to the students need to be improved’, he said.
‘More teachers should also be recruited, and trained regularly to acquaint them with modern teaching techniques’.
The population of out-of-school children in Nigeria is nearly 20 million, according to a recent report by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), with Kano one of the northern states with worrying numbers.
In a 2018 basic education report, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) noted that Kano State had the most out-of-school children in Nigeria, with 989,234 not in school at the time.
The Nigeria Learning Passport (NLP) was recently launched in Kano to address the learning gap, especially among girls, in the state.
Photo source: ViktorDobai
