TheCable

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says it has listed Kaduna as a priority state for education intervention. 

Francis Elisha, UNICEF education officer, Kaduna, spoke on Monday during a stakeholders’ meeting to develop advocacy strategies towards promoting girl-child education in the state.

According to NAN, the dialogue was organised by Kaduna Basic Education Mechanism (KADBEAM) in collaboration with Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL).

Elisha said educating a girl-child is a critical step towards improving children’s wellbeing and livelihood.

He explained that girl-child enrolment into public primary and junior secondary schools is currently four percent lower than the number for boys.

He said while the boys had 52 percent enrolment, 48 percent was recorded for the girls.

He said it is the responsibility of everybody to ensure inclusive and quality education for children, adding that UNICEF will key into any initiative targeted at strengthening children’s education.

“We have not done much in the area of education in Kaduna state in the past like we were doing in other states, and we have decided to partner with relevant stakeholders to support the sector,” Elisha said.

“We have recently decided to make the state one of our priority states for various interventions in the education sector.

“We will link up with critical stakeholders, particularly the community structures; mobilisers, and influencers for a robust engagement on how to ensure all children are in school and learning.”

Elisha called for more stakeholders intervention to achieve a 50-50 enrolment for boys and girls.