NGO urges parents to prioritise girl-child education

Fri, Sep 11, 2020
By editor
2 MIN READ

Education

THE Girls Voices Initiative (GVI), a programme of Action Health Incorporated (AHI), has urged parents and guardians to prioritise girls’ education and wellbeing over economic benefits and household support.

The GVI Leader, Miss Ibukunoluwa Adejimi, made the call at a forum on “Advancing the Wellbeing of Out-of-School Girls in Oshodi, Lagos, on Friday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the advocacy project was implemented by GVI, with support from Rising UP, an NGO, in Bolade/Ifesowapo Community, Oshodi Local Government Area.

Adejimi said that Nigeria has 13.2 million out-of-school children, with the girl-child accounting for 60 per cent of the figure.

“Major drivers are economic barriers, socio-cultural, child marriage and poverty that discourage attendance informal education, especially for girls.

“The key drivers of child marriage are gender inequality, poor level of education and poverty,” she said.

According to her, GVI conducted a focus group discussion among 40 young girls aged 13 to 24 in Bolade, Oshodi.

She said the discussion showed that about 15 per cent of girls dropped out of school because of the stigmatisation of repeating classes.

Adejimi noted that other reasons were teenage pregnancy and poverty, saying the majority of the girls have no means of livelihood after leaving school.

She said that the girls should be supported with community programmes that would increase their access to education and vocational skills.

The GVI leader emphasised the provision of safe space programmes that would build girls’ self-confidence and self-reliance.

In his remarks, Mr Idris Muse-Ariyoh, Chairman, Oshodi-Isolo Local Government, said that education was a lifetime achievement.

Muse-Ariyoh, represented by Mr Mejindade Ganiu, Supervisor for Education, advised parents to always monitor their children and support them.

He pledged to facilitate the enrollment of out-of-school adolescent girls from Bolade/Ifesowapo Community into the ongoing UNDP programme in the council area.

Also, Mr Saheed Animashaun, Special Adviser to Chairman, Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Area on Agriculture, Youths, Sports and Social Services, said that some girls dropped out of schools due to discontentment and peer pressure.

Animashaun said that poverty was also a contributory factor to the challenge of out-of-school girls in the community, in spite of the fact that education was free in the state. (NAN)

– Sept. 11, 2020 @ 14:35 GMT |

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