Buba-Haruna: AGILE Has Boosted Girl-child Enrolment Ratio in Target States

A director at the Federal Ministry of Education and National Coordinator of the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project, Mrs. Amina Buba Haruna, in this interview with Raheem Akingbolu speaks on how the project has impacted educational growth in targeted states by boosting secondary education for girls between the ages 10 and 20. Excerpts:

The Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project, has been on for close to five years, what has been its impact so far?

Yes, AGILE has been around for over four years now. It’s a World Bank-assisted project by the Federal Ministry of Education in Nigeria, with the main goal of improving secondary education for girls between the ages of 10 and 20. We started its implementation in seven states of Borno, Ekiti, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi and Plateau in 2022. Looking back, I can say, so far, so good, we are working with education ministries and stakeholders in these states and we are getting the targeted result. We are coordinating here at the Federal Ministry of Education while the state is implementing it. The project is a multi-sectoral project, whereby it’s not only the Federal Ministry of Education that is working on it but other relevant agencies and ministries that are supporting, inspecting and evaluating our impact. The objective is simple: to see how we can address issues related to adolescent girls in the targeted states, especially regarding secondary school education.

Now in the process of implementing this project, we have to look at some provisions for them and it’s captured in the three C’s of Agile, which are; collaboration, communication, and coordination. These are essential elements that help ensure the success of Agile. We have three components and each component has sub components. Component one has a sub component and two sub components under it. Component two has about four sub components under it and so many other things that are to be done under it. Under component one we have what we call renovations, under that, we have 1:1, which include construction of new classrooms (climate-smart infrastructure) to expand existing primary and junior secondary schools.

To appreciate this, one can go on expeditions around most of Nigeria’s unity colleges and other public schools in Nigeria and discover the rot and the environment that is not conducive. That’s why the AGILE is looking at constructing a school. Part of what we are trying to do is to bring school closer to adolescent girls according to the policy of the education that no child should walk more than 5km to access a school.

So, this is already being demonstrated in the seven states?

Yes, we are bringing school closer to the children, where there is a primary school, we try to build a junior secondary school close to it. Same way, where there’s a junior secondary school, we build a senior secondary school within the existing compound. We are not going to build a school in a different location but in that location where that child passes through while in primary school. So transitioning from one level to the other will be easier for the adolescent girls. Already we have done that. Now 1.2: we are looking at renovations. Again, if you go around, you see dilapidated classrooms. We did not start with building the schools, we started with renovation to make the environment conducive for these girls. And bearing in mind we are talking about adolescent girls that have started their menstrual period. They need WASH facilities, access to water, sanitation, and hygiene to manage their menstrual hygiene. A lack of WASH facilities can prevent girls from attending school and completing their education. So, we renovated classrooms and we also built WASH facilities for them and also tried to bring teaching and learning materials. Now, having brought them to schools, we have to also think of the teachers and provide another set of facilities. We have to bring instructional resources that both the teachers and the learners can be able to use so that we will have effective and efficient teaching and learning.

Can you please shed light on the term  ‘gender learning crisis’ being chorused all the time by education stakeholders?

Well, the gender learning crisis is not  particular to only female students, but it applies to all the gender identities. In this regard, we are addressing all genders. Everybody is important, it’s God that created us in a different gender. So we want to have a seamless environment where it can accommodate every child, either female or male, to be in the same environment, to be in the same compound where they will be able to have effective and efficient teaching.

What are the criteria used to select the seven states currently enjoying the initiative?

We have eligibility criteria, we have domesticated criteria and we have commitment criteria. Now the eligibility. Though we are all Nigerians, if you compare the northern and southern parts, you will know that the northern part is lagging behind, especially in the area of adolescent girls education. So we look at the population of out-of-school children, not even the girls, the total number of out of school children compared to the southern part. You will notice that even in a class, a good teacher will try to bring the passive ones to join those that can interact. This is exactly what the Nigerian government is doing, trying to bring the northern part into appreciating the need for children education like the southern part. Again, there is a clarion call that most of these children that are out of school should come back or should be able to bring them to school. The domesticated part is the one that speaks to the commitment of the government of that particular state to the Child’s Right of 2004. Then, we look at another level of commitment which involves the readiness of the government of that particular state to contribute a certain and required amount of money for the takeoff. That will show to us that this government is serious.

Are there plans in place to extend it to other states in future?

Yes, there was a plan to extend it to other states, but fortunately or unfortunately, we started with $500 million for the parent state and $700 million for the AF state -the additional financial state. The 11 ‘AF States’ (Additional Financing States) on the AGILE project are: Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara. Now these states have joined the project under the 700 million. However, most states have written expressions of interest to join the project. Fortunately there’s another project that is coming up in the Federal Ministry of Education which is called HOPE.

Now under the HOPE project, all other states that have not joined under the AGILE project can be able to join the project on that.

What are the major challenges facing AGILE?

Well, one of the challenges we are facing is still around getting parents to allow their daughters to come to school and that’s where the ‘Madubi’ campaign comes in.

Can you explain what the campaign intends to achieve?

Madubi is AGILE’s national campaign, launched to advocate increased access, retention and completion of secondary education for adolescent girls in Nigeria. Themed ‘Madubi’, -a Hausa word for mirror, the campaign is part of the AGILE Project being implemented by the Federal Ministry of Education and the World Bank for advocacy.

If the girl-child is educated, she is the reflection of the society. She is the reflection of education, she is the reflection of the country and she is also the reflection of the community she is coming from.

You will agree with me that education is a mirror through which we can view not just a reflection of the girl-child’s potential, but that of the entire society. It reflects the best and worst of society, depending on the opportunities which it has invested in its girls. With 60 per cent of out-of-school children being girls, what we see is a cracked image of our society, hence the need for urgent intervention to arrest the situation.

The campaign calls on targeted audience demographics to join the conversation both online and offline, amplify awareness around the issue of female education, and support or speak up for any girl child who is denied access to school.

Are they responding to the message of the campaign and what are the impacts based on the feedback you are getting?

We are getting a lot of positive feedback; girls are now enrolling in school. Beyond the campaign, we also have financial incentive that we are giving to these girls. We are looking at the poorest households and giving financial incentive from registration to enrollment. We are giving financial support to these girls because some of them are the breadwinners in their homes. And what can we do? She has to go out to hawk for the parents and we are stopping that. Something must be given in return and that’s where the financial incentive comes in. A girl who is hawking kolanut and groundnut that worth about N5000 for 24 hours will be stopped and get incentives to fill in the gap. AGILE Project says oh, if that’s the issue, we are going to resolve this issue. Every girl child has her ATM card. By the time she is paid, she will withdraw her money and send it to the parent. And this card even solves some of the small things that these girls need for their upkeep.