GTZ-SUPPORTED INTEGRATED GIRL CHILD EDUCATION PROJECT IN NORTHERN NIGERIA

Background While education is regarded worldwide as a veritable tool for the development of human beings physically, mentally and socially, making it accessible to all has remained a daunting global challenge. Global efforts at addressing this challenge and making education accessible to all led to the development of international instruments like the Education for All (EFA) Goals and the Millennium Development Goals. These are international commitments aimed at achieving universal basic education for all by 2015. At the national level, providing free education for all has been part of Nigerias Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy. Specifically, Section 18(1) and (3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, enjoined Government at all levels to provide free and compulsory basic education for all Nigerians. This section provides as follows: 1) Government shall direct its policy towards ensuring that there are equal and adequate educational opportunities at all levels; 3) Government shall strive to eradicate illiteracy; and to this end, Government shall as at when practicable provide:a) Free, compulsory and universal primary education; b) Free secondary education; c) Free university education; and d) Free adult literacy programme. In fulfilment of this obligation and pursuant to the global commitment on education for all, Nigeria in 2004 passed the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act. This Act provides for Compulsory, Free, Universal Basic Education and mandates Government at all levels to provide free, compulsory and universal basic education for every child of primary and junior secondary school age. Parents are obliged to ensure their children enrol and complete the basic education cycle. Penalties are prescribed for non compliance by parents.
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Services in public primary and junior secondary schools shall be free of charge and penalties are prescribed for persons who charge or receive fees in respect of primary and junior secondary education in public schools. While the UBE can be said to be a good effort by the Government to achieve Education for All (EFA) by year 2015, Nigeria still has one of the highest figures of school age children that are out of primary and secondary schools and girls are the most affected. Statistics show that in Nigeria, girls access to basic education, especially in northern states, has remained low. As few as 20% of women in the North West and North East of the country are literate and have attended school. The 2006 National School Census (NSC) revealed a net enrolment ratio (NER) of 80.6% suggesting that a substantial proportion (19%) of primary school age population (6-11 years) is not enrolled in primary schools nationwide. Several factors ranging from economic to social issues have continued to keep girls out of school especially in the northern part of the country. Poverty, early marriage, cultural and religious misinterpretations, male preference and inadequate school infrastructure are some of the core challenges of girl child education in the region. Benefits of Girls Education Girls education does not only bring the immediate benefit of empowering girls, but is seen as the best investment in a countrys development. Educated girls develop essential life skills, including: self confidence, the ability to participate effectively in society, and protect themselves from HIV/AIDS and sexual exploitation. Girls education also helps in cutting children and maternal mortality rates, contributing to national wealth and controlling disease and health status. Children of educated women are more likely to go to school and, consequently, this has exponential positive effects on education and poverty reduction for generations to come.1 More importantly, girls education is a major catalyst for achieving gender equality in any country. Educated girls graduate to literate women and no country will achieve gender equality with uneducated girls and illiterate women.

UNICEFs Information Sheet, September 2007

PROJECT GOAL Improved educational and legal status of girls and children in northern Nigeria PROJECT OBJECTIVES To increase support of relevant stakeholders for girls education and the implementation of the childs rights law. To improve infrastructural facilities in target schools. To increase access of the girl child to basic education. To increase awareness on benefits of girls education and the provisions of the Child Rights Law and UBE Act among target population. To enhance the capacity of relevant groups for the improvement of girls education. To generate relevant data and information for implementation of projects and policies on girls education in northern Nigeria. TARGET AREAS Plateau and Borno States PROJECT DURATION 2009 - 2012 PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION The project will be implemented in Plateau State by Islamic Counselling Initiative of Nigeria (ICIN) and Federation of Muslim Women of Nigeria (FOMWAN) in Borno State. The GTZ through its Gender and Good Governance Project Offices in Jos and Maiduguri will provide funding and technical support to implementing partners and key government agencies in education sector in the states. PROJECT STRATEGIES 1. Advocacy Dialogue The project will carry out advocacy dialogue with the community and policy stakeholders. The objective is to increase the support of community and policy stakeholders for the girl child education. 2. Public Enlightenment/Awareness Creation To increase awareness and knowledge on the benefits of girl child education, the project will embark on mass public enlightenment particularly on issues of male preference for enrolment by parents, using girl child for hawking, leading alms
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beggars and farming instead of being enrolled in school, withdrawal of girl child from school for marriage and related issues. 3. Improving School Infrastructures, Environment and Management for efficient school service delivery The project intends to improve infrastructures, environment and management of target schools as a way of increasing retention and completion of girl child. Specifically, the project will carry out the following: Strengthening of SBMCs in target schools: The taking over of schools by government from communities created some vacuums as communities, parents and other relevant stakeholders abandoned all responsibilities relating to education to government. Community participation in school management became very minimal through the PTA. For an improved management of schools and for an improved education, there is a need for community participation in school management. This is the rationale behind School Based Management (SBM) System. SBM is defined as the systematic decentralization of authority and responsibility to enable decisionmaking at the school level with the active participation of the community. It is a form of school decentralization system that allows communities to take active roles in the improvement of education in their communities. SBM therefore seeks to create a platform for community participation and involvement in school management through a community-formed committee known as SBMC. This committee seeks to complement government in the areas of funding, monitoring and sensitization for an improved school system. SBMC will be strengthened in target states to achieve the following: Develop, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, community development plans for schools in their communities. Sensitize and mobilize parents and children on education related issues such as enrolment, retention and completion. To sensitize community members on benefits of girl child education. Support improvement in school infrastructures through community efforts. Advocate to relevant agencies of govt. and individuals on needs of schools in their communities as specified in the community development plans. Assist govt. on policy formulation and implementation

 Provide relevant assistance to head teachers/headmasters in the management and running of schools Protect and maintain school infrastructures. Monitoring of teaching and non-teaching staff in the areas of attendance and effectiveness. Monitor pupils/students attendance especially on important community days e.g. market days. Establishment of functional STUMEC Units in target schools: Student Tutoring, Mentoring and Counselling (STUMEC) Programme is an all encompassing student development programme meant to provide students with tutoring, mentoring and counselling services. The initiative is aimed at supporting children, especially girls, throughout their learning period to help improve learning achievement and retention in schools. The support is provided by peer tutors, teacher tutors, mentors and role models from the community. This is especially for children at risk of failing or dropping out, particularly girls, who are prone to vulnerabilities due to many factors, among them the socio-cultural influences. The programme is designed to make learning more participatory, with mentoring and counseling contributing to the retention of children in school and lowering drop-out rates. The programme is similar to the moribund guidance and counselling programmes in Nigerian secondary schools but with the integration Tutoring, for of modern Mentoring tutoring, tutoring-mentoring and Counselling and concept. Student shop programme aims at providing students with a one platform mentoring counselling services. The aim is to help students with special academic needs meet up with their academic demands (reduce the failure/repeat rate), help students especially girls, resolve their emotional, personal and domestic problems and help them complete their studies (increase retention), and make school more interesting for the students. The unit is expected to carry out the following functions: 1. Provide counselling services for students.

2. Identifying the special needs of students and device appropriate means to meet them. For instance, in a school where mathematics is a major challenge, arrange for volunteer tutors (corps members, community members, TP students, etc). It could also be the need of a particular student in which case tutors could be identified for the student within the school (peer or senior tutor). 3. Organise extra curriculum events. 4. Follow up female students on the verge of withdrawal for whatever reason. 5. Organise community activities to promote/boost enrolment of girls. 4. Policy education and Training The project will carry out policy education and training to address the issue of policy illiteracy among policy stakeholders in the education sector. This will also increase policy awareness among major stakeholders in the education sector. 5. Implementation of the Childs Rights Law of Plateau State Though the Childs Rights Act has been passed since 2003 and domesticated in many states including Plateau State, it is yet to be gazetted. Implementation is therefore still at 0%. Meanwhile, an effective implementation will address some of the problems bedevilling girl child education in the state as issues like child marriage, child labour and related abuses are firmly prohibited under the law. The project seeks to achieve the implementation of the Childs Rights Law in Plateau State and its passage in Borno State. CONCLUSION It is expected that by 2012, the project would have achieved increased enrolment, retention and completion of basic education by girls in the two target states. It is also expected that the project would influence the passage and full implementation of the Childs Rights Law in the target states. These would ultimately improve educational and legal status of girls in target states and Northern Nigeria.