ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) on Wednesday called on the Federal Government and other state Governments to prioritise inclusive education for children, especially girls and children with disabilities and addressing other barriers such as infrastructural gaps.
The Country Director , Ene Obi who noted this in Abuja during the Learning and Close-out meeting of the Tax Justice and Gender Response public services project (Breaking Barriers) and also, Launch and unveiling of the stories of impact explained that the project aimed to ensure that “All children, especially girls and marginalised children have access to free, quality , publicly-funded, inclusive public education”.
She also called on the FG and state government to support the school based management committees, so that they are further positioned to achieve more incredible successes.
She further called on the need to institutionalise /strengthen existing mechanisms to curb sexual and gender based violence in schools.
Ene explained that the project was implemented in collaboration with Human Development Initiatives in Lagos state and Rural Women and Youth Development Organisation (RUWOYD) in Sokoto state .
“In driving the programme agenda ,two locations were selected for the execution in Nigeria: Lagos, three local governments, Alimosho, Epe and Badagry were selected .
“In Sokoto,3 local governments; Tambuwal, Sokoto south and Binji were selected . The project was implemented in 30 schools in Sokoto and Lagos: 3 primary schools,12 secondary schools in Lagos and three primary schools, and 12 Secondary schools in Sokoto state,” she said .
She further said the safe spaces were established with the aim of building the capacity of girls to know their rights, voice out their challenges and seek protection where necessary.
Also, ActionAid consultant, Dede Kadiri during a paper presentation on “Breaking Barriers and Tax Justice and Gender responsive public service project” end line study said 53percent Girls enrolled in Lagos and Sokoto states .
She explained, 464 children dropped out since baseline while 15,774 Children enrolled in 15 schools and less than 19,070 at baseline .
On impact; Reasons for the decline, Dede said enrollment was affected by the Corona virus adding that there was absence of data from some schools especially during the 2021/2022 academic year.
She said the overall enrollment for girls in Sokoto are 53 per cent compared to boys at 47percent in supported schools.
