By Ahmed Ahmed
Stakeholders in the education sector have advocated proactive measures to stem barriers inhibiting girl child access to quality education in Bauchi State.
The stakeholders identified early marriage, poverty, stigma, inadequate parental support and poor infrastructure as key barriers preventing adolescent girls from progressing to secondary education.
They stated this at a two-day stakeholders’ engagement on Thursday in Bauchi.
The exercise, organised by the Infor Media Consultants in collaboration with the Bauchi State Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project, focused on promoting girl child education in the state.
Prof. Mainasara Kurfi, Department of Mass Communication, Bayero University Kano, also identified cultural and religious beliefs, insurgency and family crises as contributing factors.
He enjoined parents, traditional rulers, policymakers and other stakeholders to prioritise education of adolescent girls.
“Education is the bedrock of empowerment, national development and economic growth,” he said.
Also speaking, Prof. Munnir Kamba, called for greater commitment to girls’ education, stressing that educating girls yields broad societal benefits.
“Educating a girl is an asset to both the state and the nation.
“Women are central to child upbringing, and only an educated woman can raise educated children,” he said.
Hajiya Lami Muhammad, the Project Coordinator, AGILE, said the project aims to enhance secondary education opportunities to girls aged from 10 to 20 through school infrastructure development, teacher recruitment, scholarship programmes and life skills training.
She said that some of its components included Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), providing financial incentives to the poorest households.
The initiative, she said, was eliminate economic barriers that hinder girls’ enrollment, retention and completion in school.
Our Correspondent reports that education stakeholders including officials, activists, communituy leaders and media attended the exercise.
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