Borno domesticates Gender National Policy on Education

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By Hamza Suleiman

The Borno government, in collaboration with its international partners, has unveiled a new policy designed to tackle school dropout and enforce the retention, transition and completion of the girlchild in school.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the launching and dissemination of the document brought the domestication and validation process of the National Policy on Gender in Education in Borno to finality.

Unveiling the policy document and its dissemination in Maiduguri, Mr Ibrahim Baba, the Project Coordinator, said the process took them years to achieve its domestication.

“Luckily, with the support of Malala Foundation, we started the validation process about five months ago, after domestication we also validated the Gender Policy on Education,” Baba, who was represented by Mr Bukar Dogo, said.

The coordinator said the World Bank and other donor agencies were also seeking for the draft of that validation.

“So, we couldn’t get it until today, we are able to come for dissemination. We thank Allah that we are able to realise our objectives today.”

He said the policy would go a long way in addressing the gender barriers in education and other social norms and barriers that inhibit girlchild education.

Baba, while highlighting the potential of the policy, said the state government had done a lot to ensure the smooth implementation of the policy ahead of its launch.

“The first thing is the enrolment of the girlchild and to make sure that we maintain them in school and that is called retention.

“After retention, are the girls moving to the next class level? That is a transition. What if they transit to the next class level, are they going to complete the school? That is completion.

“So, retention, transition and completion have increased as a result of this project (Domestication of Gender National Policy on Education) which we are about to launch now in Borno State.

“It has really addressed some of the social barriers that affect girlchild education in Borno,” he said.

Hajiya Hasiya Nyako, the Chairperson, Jami Al Hakeem Foundation, who had been in the forefront during the domestication and validation processes, also expressed happiness for witnessing the launching of the policy in Borno.

“Actually, I feel so good and so excited to witness today because this is long overdue. For me it’s about two to three years when I was called to attend the first meeting on domestication and implementation of Gender National Policy on Education.

“So, the journey of two to three years is not an easy thing. I have been thinking on how it would be possible but now it’s a reality that the state is about to adopt the policy.

“The state government has been taking strategies long before now to see that girls are enrolled in school, retained and complete their education,” she said.

Nyako, whose NGO has been working with the state government to achieve the realisation of the domestication of the Gender National Policy on Education in Borno, said the state was doing a lot to ensure every child has the right to education.

“In fact, the 40–60 per cent is the first step taken by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, then as governor, that in all these mega schools, the enrolment rate of the girl is higher than that of the boy, was part of his policy.

“That is one, with the coming of this project and this gender thing, we can see for ourselves that the state Commissioner for Education was also doing well in continuation with the idea of encouraging girlchild education.”

According to her, an assessment carried out by her NGO has helped them to find out some of the factors limiting the retention of girlchild in school.

“There were many factors but accessibility, WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), poverty and vulnerability issues have been identified as the major challenges,” she said.

The chairperson said some of the measures taken by the state government to address the problems was the provision of incentives to the girlchild.

Nyako said that such incentives like conditional cash transfer had helped to increase the rate of attendance among the girlchild.

The chairperson said that the provision of WASH facilities in schools had also significantly improved the girlchild’s enrolment rate in schools.

She said girls, who attend the age of puberty, were now given dignity gifts twice per term in order to support them, keep themselves clean while in school, adding that the boys were also given hygiene gifts.

On the issue of accessibility, Nyako said they found out that most girls trekked a very long distance and that also exposed them to dangers before they got to school.

“You will discover that, after the completion of the Primary School or the Basic, they dropout because they cannot continue.

“So, on that note, the schools are now built close to their communities or upgrading the existing schools nearby to the next level.

“These are the three issues that the state government addressed in its efforts to combat the issues of girlchild dropout in school in the state which has been yielding results.

“We are now looking at so many things like incentives for the teachers to improve the learning standards.

“A lot of things have been put in place to see that we domesticate this policy.

“Now Jami Al Hakeem Foundation has done that for us today for the state to formally accept to domesticate this policy,” she said.

Also speaking, Prof. Bulama Kagu, the Chairman, Borno State Universal Basic Education Board, who was represented by Hauwa Gwoma, assured Nigerians and the international community of their determination to implement the policy to the latter in the state. (NAN) www.nannews.ng

Edited by Abdullahi Mohammed

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