Kano State Government says it is targeting 36,000 schoolgirls from poor families for financial support under the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) of the World Bank.
The Project Coordinator, Alhaji Ado Tafida-Zango, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Kano.
The coordinator revealed that AGILE is a five-year project being implemented in Kano and other states of the federation.
He said that the aim of the project was to boost enrollment, transition and retention of girls in schools, as well as enhance schools’ infrastructure.
Tafida-Zango said the low enrollment and retention were due to poverty, inadequate infrastructure, lack of awareness, among others.
He added that the beneficiaries would be given Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) termly to encourage them to pursue their education from primary to secondary school level.
The coordinator said the targeted girls in Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) would be given N5,000, while those in Senior Secondary Schools (SSS) would receive N15,000, after their transition from JSS.
“We are targeting girls from the poorest families in rural communities because some parents cannot afford to sponsor education.
“Before we give them the CCT, they must have at least 80 per cent of attendance and participate fully in academic activities.
“We will ask them to open an account with our service providers, which means they will also learn financial literacy,” he said
He revealed that the students would also be given menstrual package to enhance their personal hygiene, adding that “the girls will also be taught ‘life skills’ activities to enable them take care of themselves during menstruation and how to bear a child.”
Tafida-Zango also revealed that the project was targeting about 100 girls’ schools across the state for infrastructure interventions to enhance teaching and learning.
He explained that the intervention include provision of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities in such schools.
The coordinator further revealed that computers would also be provided in identified schools for the girls to learn digital literacy.
He explained that a lot of public secondary schools would be rehabilitated under the project “because majority of them needed improvement.”
The project would involve the media for campaign against some negative societal norms that hinder girls from pursuing education, he appealed. (NAN)
