Adolescents
By Bashir Bello
The Kano State Government, in partnership with Assisting, Caring and Empowering (ACE) Charity, and with support from the Malala Fund, has initiated moves for married adolescents and adolescent mothers to return to school in the state.
The Head of Office, ACE Charity, Mrs Eno Simon, made this known while briefing newsmen after the official launching of the evidence based re-entry guidelines in the state on Tuesday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that ACE is a non-profit and non-governmental organisation that focuses on education, healthcare access, and economic empowerment, especially for orphans, vulnerable children, adolescent girls, and women in Nigeria.
The organisation works with state governments and funders like the “Malala Fund” to develop evidence-based policies and to provide quality education for underprivileged people across Africa.
Simon said guidelines were developed after research showed that 99 per cent of married adolescents wanted to return to school.
She said: “This proves that marriage does not diminish girls’ aspirations for education, rather, it is the barriers they face that prevent them from continuing their learning.”
According to her, the guidelines provide an evidence-based framework to support married adolescents and adolescent mothers to return to learning, remain in school, and complete their education.
“At the heart of today’s launch is the research that informed these guidelines. The study, conducted by ACE Charity with support from the Malala Fund, revealed a powerful finding: 99 per cent of married adolescents want to return to school.
“The research found that the major obstacles include financial hardship, childcare responsibilities, transport costs, domestic responsibilities, and stigma.
“Most girls said they would need financial assistance, flexible learning opportunities, and childcare support before they could successfully return to education,” she said.
Similarly, Simon observed that many husbands indicated interest to support their wives’ education if practical barriers such as affordability, childcare, and flexible learning were addressed.
“They recognised that educating women strengthens families, improves children’s wellbeing, and contributes to community development.
“The Kano State re-entry guidelines are the government’s response to these findings.
“The guidelines were developed by the Kano State Ministry of Education with technical support from ACE Charity and funding from the Malala Fund.
“Their development was informed by extensive consultations with key stakeholders, including education agencies, the Ministry of Women Affairs, Children and Disabled, the Ministry of Planning and Budget, development partners, community and religious leaders, and married adolescents themselves,” she stated.
According to her, the guidelines provide a practical roadmap for implementation through flexible learning pathways, strengthened learning centres, childcare and psychosocial support, facilitator training and capacity building, community sensitisation and engagement.
Others were active involvement of husbands, traditional and religious leaders, and other male champions, as well as monitoring systems to track enrolment, retention, completion, and transition outcomes.
“They also clearly define the roles and responsibilities of government ministries and agencies, schools, School-Based and Community-Based Management Committees, community and religious leaders, development partners, civil society organisations, and the media in ensuring successful implementation,” Simon said.
She, however, called on all relevant stakeholders to support the implementation of the guidelines to ensure that every married adolescent and adolescent mother who wishes to continue learning had the opportunity to pursue her educational goals. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Muhammad Lawal