The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has urged the Bauchi State government to prioritise girl- child education.
The Bauchi Field Office, Bhanu Pathak, made the plea on Sunday at a Youths Advocacy Conference in Bauchi,, which is in collaboration with Bauchi State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).
The 3-day workshop was in commemoration of the ” Day of the African Child”
Tagged “Mobilising Nigeria’s youths for increased access to safe, quality education for all, especially girls”, the workshop was for all students of tertiary institutions and other youth groups across Bauchi State.
Pathak, who was represented by the Education Specialist from the Organisation, Mairama Bukar Dikwa, said the objective of the workshop was to build capacity of youths for effective advocacy.
Pathak explained the needs to get the 1.3 million out-of-school children back in their classrooms urging the state government to remove all barriers preventing girls involvement in education.
She said Bauchi State has the highest number of out-of-school children in the country, which is apart from the low budget allocation for education.
She added there are inadequate facilities for learning with only 32 percent of teachers as female, while the pupils-teacher ratio is not favourable.
“UNICEF Nigeria has planned to mobilise youths to embark on continuous advocacy and mobilization for increased access to safe quality Education for all children, especially girls.
“This engagement will create opportunity for Nigerian youths to engage decision makers and get them to affirm that the Social Development Goals and Agenda 2063 cannot be achieved without attention to the substantial number of out of school children in Nigeria and to collectively work to ensure that all children access safe quality education, especially girls.
“The engagement will seek to secure commitments from national and state governments to prioritize children’s rights to education in their agenda of governance in their states and at the national level”
“UNICEF is deeply concerned about girls’ full participation in Education. Our efforts should be targeted at ensuring increase in budgetary allocation for Education with focus on Basic Education, making sure that all barriers that hinder girls from remaining in school are removed; ensuring children learn in a safe and conducive environment and the support to evidence-based planning and funding is secured”
“Despite the achievements, there are still some issues that will need your attention. Low budgetary allocation and releases to Education, Inadequate number of toilet facilities, sources of safe drinking water. Only 32% of the teachers in the rural areas are female. Low number of children in pre-primary schools. Pupil – classroom ratio is not favourable for effective teaching and learning process.”
She said further that UNICEF will continue to support the Government of Bauchi State in its strive to uplift the situation of girls, women and children.
Acting Chairman of SUBEB, Mansur Abubabar Abdul appealed to youths at the conference to mobilise others in their communities who are out-of-school to seek education, saying education is the only way through which a society can attain development.
The Day of the African Child (DAC) is celebrated on June 16 every year since 1991 when it was first initiated by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) now the African Union, (AU).
It honors those who participated in the Soweto Uprising in 1976 on that day. It also raises awareness on the continuing need for improvement of the education provided to African children.
