The Centre for Girl Child Education (CGE), an NGO, has supported 70,000 girls stay in school or gain a vocation in northern Nigeria.
CGE Board Member Binta Muhammad, disclosed this in an interview with the Newsmen on Thursday in Sokoto.
Muhammad stated that CGE was established in 2007 with 64 girls in rural communities in Kaduna state after a baseline survey conducted.
”The survey indicated that only 25 per cent of primary school girls continue to secondary school and only four per cent graduate secondary school.
”We also improved on access and quality of schooling and vocational training for rural and low-income urban girls in northern Nigeria,’ she said.
Mohammad also said that CGE intervened in Gender Based Violence (GBV), Intensive literacy, life skills, nutrition and others in Sokoto, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Borno, Bauchi and Gombe.
”WE provided free uniforms, transport fares, feeding among others to girls in order to ensure their enrolment, retention and completion in schools,” she said.
Muhammad explained that after the CGE interventions about 90 per cent graduated primary schools and 70 per cent graduated secondary schools.
”We are partnering with community and religious leaders to design a curriculum that suits religious and cultural norms of respective societies which facilitated acceptance.
”We strive to ensure that governments remove educational levies especially for girls child schools.
”We appeal to stakeholders to ensure safety of girls in schools, quality education for people to have maximum satisfaction for allowing their children to enroll,” Muhammad said.
On the four-day training of 40 Peer Group Educators to strengthen Gender Based Violence (GBV) awareness in Sokoto state by the NGO, Muhammad described the exercise as timely.
The training would allow girls to protect themselves against GBV, engage in economic skills and further their education.