FROM SURAJO MUHAMMAD
Nigeria has been marked as the country with the highest out-of-school children in case the world having produced one among every five out-ofchildren, in the world.
The statistics showing that the government spends only 2.4 per cent of its Growth Domestic Product (GDP) on both health and education in the Country.
This was made known by the UNICEF Education Manager, Sokoto Field Officer, Maryam Sa'id, during the opening of a Four-day Media Dialogue on Girl Child Education organised for media Representatives reporting of Sokoto and Zamfara states held in Sokoto.
The Girls Education Project 3 ( GEP3 ) was funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the UK and implemented by the UNICEF in collaboration with the governments of the six GEP3 States: Bauchi, Kano, Katsina, Niger, Sokoto and Zamfara.
She urged government at all levels for the sake of creating enlightened to the society, implement all policies on girl child education and to ensure the application and fulfilment of budgeted funds for that purpose.
She said: “Government at all levels is expected to put more efforts in implementing policies on girl child education and ensure sustainability while gender and cultural norms, among others, had been identified as some of the major factors responsible for less enrolment of the girl child, especially in Northern Nigeria,” Maryam said.
She added that an average poor girl in Nigeria might have 50 per cent opportunity of gaining access to both primary and secondary school as there has been 20 per cent enrolment into primary while about 30 per cent are enrolled into secondary school.
The Sokoto UNICEF chief field office, Maryam Said, Further that, the 2012 to date Progressive Annual School Census Data by UNICEF indicated that 418,614 were enrolled in GEP3 supported schools while a total of 545,711 girls were enrolled in Zamfara state.
She said 5,943 teachers had their capacity built through GEP3 project out of which 486 are female in Sokoto state, while teachers in Zamfara state whose capacity and skills enhanced through GEP3 were 5, 650 out of which 295 are female respectively.