Stakeholders in the education sector in Bauchi state have identified early marriage, poverty, stigma, inadequate parental support, and poor infrastructure as key barriers preventing adolescent girls from progressing to secondary education.
The stakeholders stated this at a two-day engagement in Bauchi organized by the Infor Media Consultants in collaboration with the Bauchi State Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project.
They therefore advocated for proactive measures to stem barriers inhibiting girl child access to quality education in all parts of Bauchi State.
Prof. Mainasara Kurfi, Department of Mass Communication, Bayero University Kano, also identified cultural and religious beliefs, insurgency, and family crises as contributing factors.
Kurfi, therefore, enjoined parents, traditional rulers, policymakers, and other stakeholders to prioritize the education of adolescent girls, saying, “Education is the bedrock of empowerment, national development, and economic growth.”
Also speaking, Prof. Munnir Kamba called for greater commitment to girls’ education, stressing that educating girls yields broad societal benefits.
He said: “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”.
Earlier, Hajiya Lami Muhammad, the Project Coordinator, AGILE, said the project aims to enhance secondary education opportunities to girls aged from 10 to 20 years through school infrastructure development, teacher recruitment, scholarship programmes and life skills training.
The initiative, she said, was aimed at eliminating economic barriers that hinder girls’ enrollment, retention and completion in school, pointing out that some of its components included Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), providing financial incentives to the poorest households.
