Stakeholders call for sustainability of UNICEF’s interventions in Katsina State

Stakeholders have called for the sustainability of interventions initiated by the United Nations International Children Education Fund, UNICEF in Katsina State, Northwest Nigeria.

The stakeholders include Parents, guardians, teachers, and experts in the education sector.

They made the appeal during a media dialogue organised by the UNICEF in Katsina to discuss issues around enrolments, retention and completion of mainly Girl child.

The UNICEF which was created to provide relief to less privileged children and mothers in developing countries organised the two days media dialogue in Katsina.

It assumed interventions and projects on education which include Girls for Girls (G4G), Girls Education Project 3 (GEP3), Reading and Numeracy Activities (RANA), Female Teachers Scholarship Scheme (FTTS), Mother’s Association and many others.

GEP3 was being employed in Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara, Bauchi, Kano and Niger States with the support of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the UK.

For the FTTS in Katsina state, the UNICEF has so far sponsored 1,350 female students with 857 of them now graduates.

The GEP3 projects assumed in six local government areas of Katsina State; Baure, Ingawa, Rimi, Kankia, Kankara, Batsari, Faskari and Jibia.

A breakdown of the figures made available to Voice of Nigeria during the media dialogue in Katsina state, by the UNICEF showed 966, 859 girls enrolled in schools.

The project has led to the creation of a multi-sectoral task team in the 34 local government areas to provide quick networking among performers on school security, with additional focus on the safety of the girl child.

Additionally, 60 Junior Secondary Schools have developed emergency plans and tested the plans in evacuation drills.

In Katsina State, School-Based Management Committee members have been trained, while schools have developed Emergency Preparedness and Response Plans to mitigate the impact of potential and actual threats on schools.

During the field visit to Kankia in Katsina state, beneficiaries told to journalists they wanted continual interventions programme by UNICEF.

A mother in Kankia local government area of Katsina state, Magajiya Usman said without sustainability, the interventions would not be achieved and the children enrolled would stop going to school.

She said; “We have seen improvement in girls enrolments because even those who didn’t buy the idea before started sending their children to school but what will happen when the people (UNICEF) are no longer there? With their interventions in giving some of the girls money yearly, school uniforms and other school materials to students, we have seen improvement.”

“I am not going to remove my daughter from school but, I’m sure many people will do because they rely heavily on the interventions,” another Mother, Zulaihat Umar stated.

Speaking on behalf of the Female Teachers Scholarship Scheme students, Nana Lawal appealed that the scheme should be sustained by the state government to ensure continuity.

Lawal said; “All of us here were hawking after O’Level certificate, we were picked up by UNICEF and enrolled into school, sponsored up to the College of Education level and we’re now qualified teachers. So, I believe it’s good to have these schemes maintained so that other less privilege can enjoy from the benefit of the intervention because our parents are mostly poor and they can’t sponsor us.”

The School Base Management Committee (SBMC) Katsina State Universal Basic Education Board, desk officer Sada Isa, said the retention of the programme would boost school enrolments, retention and completion.

Mr Isa noted that with the growing of insecurity in the state, several children have stopped going to school, adding that the state government is working tireless to curb the situation.

Mercy Chukwudiebere