Zamfara school girls to re-enrol peers – UNICEF

Zamfara school girls to re-enrol peers – UNICEF
By Amina Ahmed
Education
Talata Mafara (Zamfara), July 3, 2018 (NAN) Some primary school pupils in Tsakuwa community of Talata Mafara Local Government Area of Zamfara have pledged to re-enrol their out school peers back to classes through the UNICEF Girls for Girls (G4G) project.
Some of the G4G participants made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Talata Mafara.
Ms Ummi Salma Hassan, President of the G4G group at Tudun Wada Primary school, said the project has strengthened their self esteem, leadership and life skills as well as ensuring school retention to completion.
According to her, through interaction with peers and mentoring techniques employed by participating pupils in the G4G, she has successfully re-enrolled about 10 out of school girls back to the class room.
“Since I started participating in the G4G meetings, I learnt that basic education is all I need to achieve my desire of becoming a doctor to help women in my community.
“Therefore, I have pledged to encourage and re-enrol my peers that were in the past attending school and later drop out to come back,’’ she said.
Ms Hadiza Isa, a primary six pupil at Tudun Wada Primary School, also told NAN that the G4G project introduced by UNICEF would end girl child molestation in their schools and community at large.
She said their mentors made to them understand that no person should gain access to their body.
“Our mentors said we should not allow boys or men to touch our body because we want education.
“Our body should be for only me, and that whoever does that we should tell them no,” she said.
The Leader of Mothers Association in Tsakuwa community, Mrs Aisha Abdullahi, lauded the project, noting that it has boosted the morale of their daughters.
She called on the Zamfara Government to support and sustain such programmes in the interest of future leaders.
Abdullahi called on the stakeholders to initiate empowerment programmes to parents so as to support the education of their children through provision of learning materials, among others.
NAN reports that the UNICEF G4G project has introduced a similar project for school boys to champion education in Bauchi, Katsina and Zamfara states.
The G4G is running in primary schools only in the selected states of Bauchi, Katsina and Zamfara as a pilot project. (NAN)
AE/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola