A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Onelife Initiative, which researched the education sector in Oyo State, has reported some prevalent gaps in girl-child education despite the state government’s free education policy.
In the findings of the report which was launched recently in Ibadan, the state capital, the NGO said some Local Government Areas in the state including Iseyin, Ibarapa North, Lagelu, Iwajowa, Kajola, Ibarapa East, and Oyo West had been highlighted as a high priority for improving the lot of the girl-child.
The report titled, ‘State of Girl-Child Education (SoGE) in Oyo State’, also revealed the various antecedent factors related to the state of girl-child education among public secondary schools in the state.
The NGO noted that the report, supported by the Malala Fund, shows that a girl will need a minimum of N89,200 per term for sundries such as uniform, sanitary pads, socks, underwear, stationery, transportation fare, school bag, sandals, and hair maintenance.
Giving the highpoint of the findings, while speaking at the launch and dissemination of the report, the Executive Director of Onelife Initiative and the Principal Investigator of the research, Mr. Sola Fagorusi, said a total of 34 schools spread across the three geo-political zones in the state were surveyed, with 1,280 girls responding to questionnaires, 83 inept interviews, and 36 Focus Group Discussions with key education stakeholders.
Fagorusi stated: “Complimented by the West Africa Senior Secondary School Certificate examination result, the following local Government Areas were highlighted as high priority for improving the lot of the girl child — Iseyin, Ibarapa North, Lagelu, Iwajowa, Kajola, Ibarapa East, and Oyo West.
“In Iseyin Local Government Area, for instance, only 11 girls in public schools across the LGA had 5 credits in the exam, including Mathematics and English, out of the 1,267 girls that sat for the exam. We hope the various stakeholders here will take the recommendations, spot gaps, and act.”
The event also saw the launch of a website, www.teachher.ng, for tooling corps members posted to schools to be better educators. It also featured a photo exhibition titled Visualising Girls Education.
“The website has 5 modules specially designed for first-time educators, specifically corps members, on the various issues and knowledge they need to arm themselves with, for effective classroom teaching targeting the girl child. The modules also bear gifts for corps members upon completion of each module,” Fagorusi noted.
Earlier in his opening address, the state Commissioner for Education, Science, and Technology, Prof. Salihu Abdulwaheed Adelabu, represented by the Permanent Secretary/Inspector General of Education, Elder Delani Binuyo, said stakeholders not to see education as the affair of the state government alone, while congratulating Onelife Initiative and her partner for the success achieved on the findings.
Also, in her remarks, the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, Mrs. Toyin Balogun, represented by the Director of Child Welfare, Mr. Gbemileke Ojerinde, assured participants of the government’s unwavering commitment to implementing policies and programmes that will empower the girl-child to thrive academically and socially through strategic initiatives like scholarships, school feeding programmes and advocacy for gender-sensitive curricula.”
Present at the event were representatives from the Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board (Oyo SUBEB), National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), civil society organisations, and students from 9 secondary schools across the state and their teachers.
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