From Abdurrazaq Mungadi, Gombe
The Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) Additional Financing Project has announced its ambitious plan to target 10,000 out-of-school girls in Gombe.
The initiative which seeks to improve secondary education opportunities for marginalized girls, is a World Bank-supported project being implemented by the federal government.
Speaking during a one-day sensitization workshop for Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), CBOs and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), the project coordinator in Gombe, Dr Amina Haruna Abdul stated that the project is focusing on empowering adolescent girls through education, adding the aim is to address the barriers that prevent girls from accessing education and providing a second chance for affected girl child in the state.
She explained that while the project is being implemented in segments, the team will be adopting a holistic approach to implementing the project to transform the lives of female children in the state and support them in contributing to the overall development of their communities.
She said, “It is not that the girls are not there, only that the parents are not ready to send them to school, so we intend to reach out to the parents, to the communities so that we get these, girls back to school, by next school session we hope to flag-off the girl’s scholarship, we hope to flag-off the renovation of schools, with that, we hope that more people will be attracted to the project”.
Meanwhile, the coordinator of Voice of Hope, an NGO in Gombe, Comrade Gloria Usman, commended the developer of the AGILE project for making Gombe one of the states implementing the project. She revealed that girls are more likely to break the cycle of poverty and contribute to the economy when educated.
She called on the team to be sincere in implementing the project to address the issue of out-of-school children, especially the girl-child which is becoming a menace in the state. Gloria added that the plan to tackle the issue of out-of-school girls is a commendable effort that deserves recognition, and she assured that she and her group would support and work with the team to build a more inclusive society.