From Mustapha Adamu, Kano
Some parents, teachers and other stakeholders in Dawanau community, Dawakin Tofa Local Government area of Kano state have identified poverty as the major reason why many of their daughters are school dropouts.
They spoke during an interaction with Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Education (AGILE), programme team at the Government Girls Secondary School Dawanau on Friday.
Reports have it that Kano is one of the states with the high number of out-of-school children, situation that requires collective efforts to be addressed.
According to the stakeholders , poverty had rendered them unable to provide uniform, books and in most cases transport fare for their daughters to go to the school.
They therefore called on the government to intervene in order to continue sending their daughters to school, which according to them is the best way to build their future.
Speaking on behalf of parents, the PTA chairman of the school, Alhaji Hussaini Abdullahi Dawanau pointed out that, providing fencing and additional classes would improve learning outcomes.
He said, the PTA and school based management committee (SBMC) had on several occasions, mobilized philanthropists to support the school with roofing,equipments and structures.
Similarly, the principal of the school, Hajiya Sadiya Muhammad Yakasai pointed out that education is the backbone of any meaningful development as such parents should endeavor to ensure completion.
She described the interaction between AGILE and the community as a welcome development, which would go a long way in yielding positive results.
For the Deputy Project Coordinator of AGILE in Kano, Alhaji Salisu Idris, they were at the community to find out the reasons behind the increase in the number of dropout.
He pointed out that, during their interaction, AGILE case management committee discovered poverty and other factors as the major reasons to lack of completion of girls education.
Salisu opined that AGILE is committed to providing financial incentives through Conditional Cash Transfer, CCT, in addition to providing basic learning facilities under the large grant.
