Group euips Kaduna teachers to help girls return to school

From Yakubu Mustapha, Minna

The Anti Sexual Violence Lead (ASVIOL) Support Initiative has trained 25 teachers from six secondary schools in Kaduna State to serve as mentors for adolescent girls at risk of dropping out of school and those seeking to resume their education after an interruption.

The training was organised under the Aminiya Initiative, a programme designed to promote safe and inclusive pathways to girl-child education in Kaduna State.

According to a statement issued by the organisation, the three-day residential training was implemented by ASVIOL Support Initiative with support from the Malala Fund. The programme is led by Hassana Maina, the organisation’s Executive Director and a member of the Malala Fund Education Champion Network, Cohort 8.

The initiative seeks to address barriers preventing many adolescent girls from completing secondary education, including early marriage, teenage pregnancy and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).

These challenges often disrupt girls’ education, while stigma, harassment and fear of discrimination can make returning to school difficult, even where policies protect their right to continue learning.

The 25 participants, comprising subject teachers and guidance counsellors, were drawn from government girls’ secondary schools in Barnawa, Kakuri, Maimuna Gwarzo, Makera, Kurmin Mashi and Queen Amina College.

A representative of the Kaduna State Ministry of Education, Mrs Aishatu Muhammad, who is also Deputy Director of Public Schools and Gender Officer, commended the initiative for strengthening support systems for girls whose education had been disrupted.

The training also examined the emotional and social difficulties girls may face when returning to school. Participants identified shame, fear, mockery and loneliness as some of the challenges that could affect their reintegration into the learning environment.

The Aminiya Initiative, which means “trusted confidant” in Hausa, is a school-based intervention that equips teachers to mentor adolescent girls, particularly young mothers and married girls, and provide structured support to help them return to school and remain in education.

ASVIOL Support Initiative is a women-led civil society organisation focused on preventing and responding to sexual and gender-based violence through advocacy, curriculum development, policy engagement, community mobilisation and institutional strengthening.

Through the programme, the organisation aims to strengthen school-based support systems and improve educational opportunities for girls facing circumstances that threaten their continued schooling.