UNICEF, FCDO return Im out-of-school children in Kano to school

KANO — No fewer than one million out of school children have been returned to school in Kano State under the Girls’ Education Project, GEP 3 intervention implemented by the United Nations Children Fund, UNICEF with funding from Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, FCDO.

Deputy Director, Junior Secondary Schools, Kano State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, Hajia Hauwa Tanimu, disclosed this weekend during a meeting organized by UNICEF in collaboration with SUBEB for stakeholders comprising  School Based Management Committee, SBMC,  High Level Women Advocate, HILWA, mothers association among others on sustainability plan of the project as GEP 3 phasing out by September ending.

Hajia Tanimu said the children were returned to school from the six Local Government Areas, LGAs of Nasarawa, Sumaila, Dambatta, Ungogo, Kano Municipal and Gwale of Kano State where the project was piloted.

According to her, the GEP 3 project had succeeded in changing narratives around out of school children menace hence the need for sustainability mechanisms in place to sustain the interventions by the benefitting communities.

She said “UNICEF under the GEP 3 has carried out series of interventions which include the enrolment drive. With this intervention, about one million adolescent children have been enrolled back to school (Primary and Integrated Quranic School/Tsangaya).

“Other interventions include enrolment drive, cash transfer program to return girl child back to school, school grants, training of the teachers and other supports to SBMC and others.