In Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north a community-run project to create ‘girl-friendly’ primary schools is helping to correct long-time gender inequalities in education, analysts say.
In the region’s most populous state, Kano, boys continue to outnumber girls in school but education officials say the margin has narrowed over recent years.
“The enrolment of girls is increasing,” Yakubu Suleiman, head teacher of the public primary school in Zakarai village, 64km from Kano, told IRIN. “I am sure in a few years there will be as many girls as boys.”
While official figures say primary school intake has more than doubled in Nigeria since the government introduced free primary education in 2001, the gender discrepancy remains in northern states.
Just over a quarter of girls in northern Nigeria make it beyond secondary school and more than half are married before age 15, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
US Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2004 set up a project to involve community members in improving education quality and boosting girls’ enrolment – Community Participation for Action in the Social Sector (COMPASS).
“We realised we had a lot of problems in our school system, including overcrowding in the classrooms, lack of furniture, low numbers of girls and few qualified teachers, so we started by setting up a community dialogue to discuss the problem,” said Alhaji Nuhu Gaya, leader of a community coalition.
Further, the school system is run-down, over-stretched and low on teachers, with classrooms designed for 40 holding 150 students, according to Gaji Abdullahi of the Kano state Universal Basic Education Board.
In Zakarai, a low-income farming settlement with some 8,000 residents, of the 1,690 registered pupils at the only primary school in 2008, 860 were girls, reflecting a three-year upward trend; 776 girls were enrolled in 2006.
With COMPASS, education and health experts assess education needs alongside community members, and jointly come up with a plan for how to tackle them. “We don’t give them money, only advice,” said Mohammed Gama, COMPASS mobilisation officer in Kano. “Once we have spoken with communities they vow to push ahead and want to do something about it themselves,” he said.
Encouraging girls
One of the best ways to attract more girls is very simple, says the Kano basic education board’s Abdullahi: toilets. In a conservative, predominantly Muslim community, unisex toilets have hindered girls’ enrolment. Community leaders are beginning to provide separate facilities for girls.
In Gabasawa village, 36km from Zakarai, teachers at a primary school are also trained to encourage girls to participate more in class, according to Magaji Ibrahim, the assistant head teacher.
Health and nutrition programmes, which have long been neglected in schools, according to the education board’s Abdullahi, have been reintroduced through COMPASS. “We used to be taught to take care of our hair, to clean our uniforms, wash our hands in school and teachers are now doing this again.”
COMPASS relies on parents and teachers collaborating and taking an active role in the education of their children and the problems facing the school, as well as in raising funds for maintenance.
Impact
Retired government employee Lamino Bello Gaya, 61, who recently returned to live in Gabasawa after 40 years in Kano city, said he can see attitudes changing.
His five-year-old daughter, Amina, held onto his traditional caftan as he sat in the head teacher’s office at Rimin Dagaci primary school and denounced the custom of marrying off young girls in northern Nigeria, cutting short their education.
At the school 47 percent of the students are now girls, compared to 36 percent in 2006.
“COMPASS has made a huge impact on our educational system,” said Abdullahi. “Teachers are better equipped to teach, literacy and numeracy skills are enhanced and parents now see they can also play a role in educating their children, especially girls.”
Taking it forward
But despite increasing community interest, the COMPASS project may draw to a close in late 2009.
Thus far COMPASS has reached just 16 out of a projected 44 government councils in Kano state. “We have received requests from several schools that are not currently benefiting from COMPASS to be included in the project…the challenge is for us to replicate it in all government areas of the state,” Abdullahi said.
State authorities allocated 18 percent of the annual budget to education in 2008 and have made it a priority to commit substantial resources to education, but with a population of more than 10 million even this is not enough to ensure quality schooling for growing numbers of students, he said.
But if more community members come on board, the local authorities can try to take COMPASS’s work forward, he said.
Gabasawa parent Gaya is ready: “I advise any person to enable his daughter to reach whatever level of education she wants because it will help the country in the future.”
gc/aj/np
In the region’s most populous state, Kano, boys continue to outnumber girls in school but education officials say the margin has narrowed over recent years.
“The enrolment of girls is increasing,” Yakubu Suleiman, head teacher of the public primary school in Zakarai village, 64km from Kano, told IRIN. “I am sure in a few years there will be as many girls as boys.”
While official figures say primary school intake has more than doubled in Nigeria since the government introduced free primary education in 2001, the gender discrepancy remains in northern states.
Just over a quarter of girls in northern Nigeria make it beyond secondary school and more than half are married before age 15, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
US Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2004 set up a project to involve community members in improving education quality and boosting girls’ enrolment – Community Participation for Action in the Social Sector (COMPASS).
“We realised we had a lot of problems in our school system, including overcrowding in the classrooms, lack of furniture, low numbers of girls and few qualified teachers, so we started by setting up a community dialogue to discuss the problem,” said Alhaji Nuhu Gaya, leader of a community coalition.
Further, the school system is run-down, over-stretched and low on teachers, with classrooms designed for 40 holding 150 students, according to Gaji Abdullahi of the Kano state Universal Basic Education Board.
In Zakarai, a low-income farming settlement with some 8,000 residents, of the 1,690 registered pupils at the only primary school in 2008, 860 were girls, reflecting a three-year upward trend; 776 girls were enrolled in 2006.
With COMPASS, education and health experts assess education needs alongside community members, and jointly come up with a plan for how to tackle them. “We don’t give them money, only advice,” said Mohammed Gama, COMPASS mobilisation officer in Kano. “Once we have spoken with communities they vow to push ahead and want to do something about it themselves,” he said.
Encouraging girls
One of the best ways to attract more girls is very simple, says the Kano basic education board’s Abdullahi: toilets. In a conservative, predominantly Muslim community, unisex toilets have hindered girls’ enrolment. Community leaders are beginning to provide separate facilities for girls.
 ...I am sure in a few years there will be as many girls as boys... |
Health and nutrition programmes, which have long been neglected in schools, according to the education board’s Abdullahi, have been reintroduced through COMPASS. “We used to be taught to take care of our hair, to clean our uniforms, wash our hands in school and teachers are now doing this again.”
COMPASS relies on parents and teachers collaborating and taking an active role in the education of their children and the problems facing the school, as well as in raising funds for maintenance.
Impact
Retired government employee Lamino Bello Gaya, 61, who recently returned to live in Gabasawa after 40 years in Kano city, said he can see attitudes changing.
His five-year-old daughter, Amina, held onto his traditional caftan as he sat in the head teacher’s office at Rimin Dagaci primary school and denounced the custom of marrying off young girls in northern Nigeria, cutting short their education.
At the school 47 percent of the students are now girls, compared to 36 percent in 2006.
“COMPASS has made a huge impact on our educational system,” said Abdullahi. “Teachers are better equipped to teach, literacy and numeracy skills are enhanced and parents now see they can also play a role in educating their children, especially girls.”
Taking it forward
But despite increasing community interest, the COMPASS project may draw to a close in late 2009.
Thus far COMPASS has reached just 16 out of a projected 44 government councils in Kano state. “We have received requests from several schools that are not currently benefiting from COMPASS to be included in the project…the challenge is for us to replicate it in all government areas of the state,” Abdullahi said.
State authorities allocated 18 percent of the annual budget to education in 2008 and have made it a priority to commit substantial resources to education, but with a population of more than 10 million even this is not enough to ensure quality schooling for growing numbers of students, he said.
But if more community members come on board, the local authorities can try to take COMPASS’s work forward, he said.
Gabasawa parent Gaya is ready: “I advise any person to enable his daughter to reach whatever level of education she wants because it will help the country in the future.”
gc/aj/np
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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