The Kano State government has said 10 boarding schools closed by the previous government in the state are set to reopen to improve access to girls’ education, especially those from rural areas.
The state girl-child coordinator at the Ministry of Education, Hajia Amina Kassim, stated this while responding to questions from journalists during a legislative dialogue on Gender-Responsive Education Budgeting(GREB) organised by Bridge Connect Africa Initiative(BCAI) with support from the Malala fund.
Acknowledging that cultural and socio-economic barriers contribute to the lack of access to girl-child education in the state, she said proximity tends to be another challenge. Many girls who graduated from primary schools don’t transition to secondary education due to lack of access.
She maintained that the state government, after declaring a state of emergency in the education sector, has spent billions of naira refurbishing and renovating the boarding schools, noting that “very soon they will be open for the girls to have access to education.”
Hajiya Kassim also noted that some of the boarding schools in operations such as WTC Kano, GGS Dala are hosting children from their catchment areas, as such when the others are open, they will operate similarly.
The coordinator also noted that her office has received approval from the ministry to conduct a situation assessment of some communities with a high rate of school dropouts and out-of-school girls and ensure success stories are recorded, addressing each community’s challenge.
In his remarks, Abdulaziz Musa, BCAI’s programme coordinator for the Bridging Access to Girls Education project, said the meeting’s objective was to discuss the current progress, challenges, release, and utilization of girls’ education funding with stakeholders, including government representatives, CSOs, and the media.
According to him, despite the reported progress in the sector, there are still many challenges, hence the need for collaborative efforts between NGOs and the government to ensure progress.
He said the meeting also discussed a gender-responsive education budgeting framework developed by BCAI, which can be used as a policy tool to address challenges in the release and utilization of funds for girls’ education in the state
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