UNICEF, FME Hold Workshop For Nigeria’s Education Stakeholders In Enugu To Evaluate Success Of GEP3, SDG4 Projects

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The United Nations Childrens’ Fund, UNICEF, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education ( FME) has organized  a two day workshop in Enugu for key Stakeholders  in the Education sector for the evaluation of the success of the intervention in girl child education in the country through  the  projects christened:, “Girl Child Education Project 3, GEP3” and the Sustainable Development  Goals4, SDG4.

Our  Correspondent reports that the workshop with the theme: “Scaling and Replicating Best Practices Towards Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals4,” was specially designed to assess the success of GEP1, GEP2 and GEP3 which pilot scheme worked in 6 Northen states of the country, with a view to scaling it up in the Southern states of Nigeria.

The programme according to the organizers, was also aimed at enabling the Northern states where the project was implemented successfully share ideas with their Southern counterparts.

In her remark at the flag off of the national meeting/seminar Wednsday, UNICEF Chief Field Office, Enugu, Mrs Juliet Chiluwe, explained  that the workshop was to disseminate the three results of the GEPs with a view to adjudge  the Southern states on how they are implementing the Sustainable Development Goals4.

Represented by the UNICEF Education Specialist, Dr. Agatha Nzeribe the UNICEF. Enugu field office boas, stated that the GEPs were a well thought out project of intervention to deal with the “issue of enrollment, retention and completion” of the girl child in schools in the Northern part of Nigeria.

She however,  appreciated the success of the GEPs in the North, stressing that they were looking for a way to apply them to the Southern part of Nigeria for girl child education to be holistic in Nigeria and close the yawning gap between the boys and the girls.

Chiluwe, stressed that the key objectives of the  GEP3 programme was to showcase interventions that have worked for common problems and presenting a strong case for southern states buy-in

According to Chiluwe,  “We are here to learn what happened in the GEPs and apply them in the Southern states,” .

She noted that people were not giving the true picture of the girl child education in the South and seemed to mask it, pointing out that some people give the impression that all is well in the Southern Nigeria where this could be far from the truth, adding that something should be done to redress the misconception.

“We are here to identify what issues are in the South and learn how to adopt and adapt the findings of the three GEPs and apply them to our situation,” she said.

Speaking also, the Director, Senior Secondary Education, Federal Ministry of Education, FME, Hajiya Binta Abdulkadir, said that the GEPs intervention was a huge success in the North, noting that it has changed the narrative in enrollment and completion of basic education by girls in the North.

Abdulkadir, represented by Deputy Director, Special Needs Education, FME, Aisuedion Abel Akhere, posited that the increasing need to improve enrollment, retention and completion of the basic education level cannot be over-emphasised hence the GEPs enrolment drive.

“I make bold to state that GEP3 was a success in so many ways away it changed the narrative in our school enrollment and completion at the basic education level,”

A participants, Mamuda Galadima, who was in charge of Cash Transfers during the GEP3 in Sokoto State in an interview said that the project helped a lot in encouraging the girls to go to school instead of opting for early marriage.

Also speaking with Newsmen, Senior Education Manager, UNICEF in Kano,  Mr. Micheal  Banda, said the GEP3 project has improved the girl child education in Northern Nigeria, expressing the hope that it would yield similar positive result in Southern Nigeria states.

The event was attended by key Stakeholders in the Education sectur from various parts of Nigeria.