It’s a particularly humid April morning
at the Government Girls Day Secondary School in Gusau, Zamfara State, where
Mariam and her 63 other classmates sat with their eyes steadfastly glued to the
blackboard as the teacher introduced a new topic in Chemistry to their young
and inquisitive minds. It’s one of the marathon revision classes scheduled to
prepare these young female scholars for the West African Senior School
Certificate Examination starting in a few days. Even my presence and camera did
little to break their rapt attention as they tried to absorb every term and
equation on the board. The stakes are high.
Two years ago, thousands of miles from
Gusau where Mariam and her friends are having their preparations, a larger
group of female students were undergoing a similar exercise in a similar
institution before tragedy struck. A tragedy that shook Nigeria to its very
foundation and held the attention of the whole world for months after 276
female students were kidnapped by terrorist group Boko Haram from Government
Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. 57 of them managed to escape and
since then the clamour for the release of the remaining 219 is still on.
The Chibok Girls, as they are now
known, have proved to be a watershed in Nigeria’s fight against Boko Haram
insurgency. Two years later, the North East communities ravaged by the war are
springing to life again, even though the scars remain. A particularly worrying
scar is the damage done to female education in Northern Nigeria. While there is
no concrete data available yet to compare enrolment rates in primary and
secondary schools before and after the tragic incident, it is incontrovertible
that some damage was done to the psyche of parents who are desirous of sending
their children to school, especially the female ones.
That unfortunately is a rather
unpleasant complication to a grim reality. The global figure for out-of-school
children is estimated at 121 million, 65 million being girls and over 80
percent of these girls live in Sub Saharan Africa. According to UNICEF, 40
percent of Nigerian children aged 6 -11 do not attend any primary school with
the Northern region recording the lowest school attendance rate in the country,
particularly for girls. Despite a significant increase in net enrolment rates
in recent years, it is estimated that there are still 10 million out-of-school
children in Nigeria, most of them girls. Of those fortunate enough to enrol,
less than two-thirds complete primary school and even fewer girls finish secondary
school.
Zamfara State has proved, in recent
years, to be the silver lining in the cloud of female education in Northern
Nigeria. The state has the highest enrolment figure for girls in primary and
secondary school in the North West, and third highest in North West and North
East combined. Indeed, Zamfara is the only state in the North West and North
East to have more girls than boys in secondary school in the last two years.
The number of girls who enrol in school and complete their education up to WAEC
have also increased by 40% in the last three years. It doesn’t end there. In 5
out of 14 local government areas in Zamfara State, there are more girls than
boys in both public and private primary schools. One of the very few states in
Northern Nigeria with such record. These statistics are by no means accidental,
but as a result of deliberate moves by and strategic policies of the current
administration in Zamfara State led by the Governor, Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar.
Close to the Government Girls Day
Secondary School is Government Girls Arabic Secondary School, a manifestation
of the strategic purposefulness with which the current Zamfara State government
has pursued improvements in girl child education in the state. Most parents do
not send their children, especially girls, to school and prefer to send them to
Qur’anic schools rather than formal schools. One of the secrets to getting
parents to enrol their children in school, especially girls, and keeping them
there in Zamfara is the provision of alternative school structures and
curriculum, an example of which is the Arabic primary and secondary schools
around the state. Government Girls Arabic Secondary School for instance sits
close to Government Girls Day Secondary School. Both are girls only secondary
education institutions with modern facilities and, but the former places more
emphasis on Arabic Studies than the latter. The availability of such diverse
options has made it possible for the state government to convince parents to
send their girls to school without the fear of erosion of values they hold
dear.
The School For Continuing Education for
Women in Gusau is yet another example of the determination of the Zamfara State
government in ensuring that girls are women in the state are trained, educated
and empowered to compete with not just men, but their peers worldwide. Many
children do not attend school because their labour is needed to either help at
home or to bring additional income into the family. The burden of catering for
the family is often placed upon the girl child at a young age, and as a result
many of them are unable to complete their education, if they are lucky enough
to start at all. This gap is what the Zamfara State government has managed to
bridge through the provision of a specialised educational system to cater
solely to young married women.
Government Girls College in Talata
Mafara is the only female science school in Zamfara State and one of the few
that exists in the North West. This is where the future female doctors and
engineers from Zamfara are being trained. The school spots one of the best
boarding facilities in Northern Nigeria and full housing facilities for staff.
An ultra-modern laboratory and well stocked library are pointers to the
seriousness with which the government takes the training of these crop of
aspiring female scientists.
This story of girls in Zamfara who are
defying all odds in the pursuit of education will not complete without
mentioning the investments made by the current Governor of Zamfara State in
this sector. Yari Abubakar stepped into the governance of Zamfara State and had
to take far reaching steps in raising the standard of education in the state.
More than 300 new blocks of classrooms were constructed and commissioned in the
first year alone. A 7,000 capacity teachers training centre was built in Gusau
fully equipped with ICT facilities to prepare teachers for the latest demand in
teaching profession.
The current administration has gone to
great lengths to take Zamfara out of the bottom rung of WAEC pass rates it was
in 2012 by placing emphasis on the education of girls and women. The 2016
budget of the state and amount allocated to education shows the government is
serious further reducing the number of out-of-school children in the state. Due
to high poverty rates, most families cannot afford the associated costs of
sending their children to school such as uniforms and textbooks. This hurdle
has been removed by making education free in the state and added to that is the
school feeding programme as an incentive to keep children in school and keep
the properly nourished for the intellectual rigour of learning.
Just two months ago, an advisory
committee set up for the revival of the education sector in Sokoto, Kebbi and
Zamfara States, headed by former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral
Commission, Professor Attahiru Jega, submitted its report. Governor Yari who
received the report on behalf of his colleagues, gave indications that nothing
less than 35 percent of the annual budgets of the state will be allocated to
education.
This is the kind of good news Mariam
and all other girls in Zamfara State need to inspire them for the challenges
ahead. If the pace of advancement in girl-child education in Zamfara State is
maintained, the Yari Abubakar administration would have succeeded in providing
a template for tackling one of the greatest obstacles to the development of the
Northern region.
Tags
Opinion