___

Nigeria's Experience with Girls' Education and
Linkages with Action on Adult Female Literacy
- to Impact on Poverty Alleviation


___

Statement by Nigeria's Honourable Minister
of Education: Mrs. Chinwe Nora Obaji - at
the United Nations Girls' Education
Initiative Consultative Meeting
Beijing: China
26 November, 2005

___

The Chairperson: Ms. Rima Salah: Deputy
Executive Director: UNICEF

Fellow Ministers and other
Government Representatives

Your Excellencies and Members
of the Diplomatic Corps

Representatives of Non-Governmental
Organizations

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is indeed my pleasure to address you at this UNGEI Technical Meeting with
the theme: "Girls' Education and Female Adult Literacy: From Vicious Cycle
to Virtuous Cycle." Permit me to first extend to you very warm greetings
from the President and Commander-in-Chief: Federal Republic of Nigeria,
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, the Government and people of Nigeria.
Permit me also to express our sincere thanks to our hosts, the Honourable
Minister of Education of the Peoples Republic of China and the Chinese
Government for the wonderful arrangements made for this meeting.

Nigeria recognizes education as a fundamental human right and is signatory
to the major conventions for the protection of the rights of children and
women, especially, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and the
Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW). In 2003, the Government of Nigeria passed into Law the Child
Rights Act. This Act is aimed at facilitating the realization and
protection of the rights of all children. In the quest to achieve the
objectives of EFA and MDGs, Nigeria also enacted the Universal Basic
Education (UBE) law, which provides for a 9-year free and compulsory
basic education to fast-track education interventions at the primary and
junior secondary levels. The Government of Nigeria has been working in
active collaboration with International Development Partners such as
the UNICEF, DFID, UNESCO, USAID, JICA, World Bank as well as
Civil Society and Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs)
to achieve the EFA/UBE goals.

Gender equity in education has been one of the main goals targeted by
Nigeria since the 1990 World Conference on Education For All (EFA), in
Jomtien, Thailand. This commitment has been renewed in several
international fora, including the United Nations Decade for Girls'
Education Initiative (UNGEI).

In Nigeria, there is a national gender disparity in basic education
enrolment, retention and completion against girls. In addition there are
regional variations in gender disparity in education with girls and women
from Northern Nigeria and rural communities generally at a disadvantage.

NIGERIA'S STRATEGY FOR GIRLS' EDUCATION:

Building on existing Child Friendly School Initiative which is supported by
UNICEF, Nigeria has developed the Strategy for the Acceleration of Girls'
Education, which evolved into SAGEN+ and now being reinforced by the new Girls'
Education Project (GEP). This is a substantial joint undertaking by the Federal
Government of Nigeria, DFID and UNICEF to boost girls¡¦ schooling in Northern
Nigeria and accelerate progress towards the MDGs, especially with respect
to gender equity.

The major objectives of the Girls' Education Project (GEP) include:

* Raising national awareness on girl-child education and increasing
political and financial through advocacy and sensitization of policy
makers at all levels, parents, school authorities, other leaders
and girls themselves.

* Developing technical capacity of schools and teachers¡¦ pedagogical
skills to create girl-frcommitment iendly school environments that
enhance the participation of girls and improve learning outcomes.

* Establishing Child-Friendly School principles as minimum benchmarks
for effective schools, linked to community empowerment and development.

* Creating school management committees with community involvement
and participation.

* Building institutional capacity for promoting girls¡¦ education and
the capacity of stakeholders on gender sensitivity and sexuality.

* Collaborating with Government and other stakeholders in reviewing
existing curricula and teaching materials for gender sensitivity.

* Promoting the employment of more female teachers in the rural areas,
where they are most needed to serve as role models and assist in the
mentoring of out-of-school girls.

* Monitoring and evaluating of girls' education programmes and
mobilizing and strengthening the Inspectorate's role in this
process.

* Promoting synergy between girls' education and poverty
alleviation programmes.

* Improving service delivery with all stakeholders, providing
more girls' only schools where appropriate, and improving
facilities (including access to safe water and separate
toilets for girls) and instructional materials for the
promotion of quality education.

In pursuance of these objectives, advocacy visits have been extended to
six Northern States - namely: Bauchi, Borno, Jigawa, Katsina, Niger
and Sokoto.

SUPPORT PROGRAMS IN THE FEDERAL
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION:

A number of programs and projects have been undertaken by the Federal Ministry
of Education to strengthen the GEP so as to ensure its sustainability. Some
of the activity nodes include:
* The restructuring of the Federal Inspectorate Service through quality
control capacity building efforts in collaboration with International
Development Partners like UNESCO, World Bank, DFID, etc., to address
the falling standard in teaching and low learning achievements among
pupils. This is designed to enhance competences of teachers and
pedagogical skills. The Inspectorate service is therefore being
enhanced to develop a framework to guide quality assurance at
the primary and secondary levels of education.

* The National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal
Education (NMEC) in collaboration with UNICEF, UNESCO and the
Cuban Government provide support for adult literacy through
education radio programmes and supportive materials. This
collaborative initiative enhances the nexus between adult
literacy and girls¡¦ education. The use of radio is a key
strategy in providing education to nomadic populations
through Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) which is
supplemented by print and audio-visual materials. The
scheme, which has two components, (school-based IRI
and adult education IRI) is being implemented by the
National Commission for Nomadic Education (NCNE).

* The impact of HIV/AIDS has increased the number of
school dropouts and reduced access to education, while
increasing the number of school-age children who are
out of school. My Ministry¡¦s HIV/AIDS Unit, in
collaboration with our development partners, has
developed the Family Life HIV/AIDS curriculum and
revived the Education Sector Response to Adolescent,
Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and has
up-scaled the education sector intervention through
advocacy programmes.

RECENT ACHIEVEMENTS AND IMPACT:

As a result of increasing government commitment, greater awareness has been
created nationwide on girls¡¦ education, with the launch and dissemination of
the SAGEN in July 2003 and a pledge by my Ministry to mainstream girls'
education into the EFA Plan. Some States in northern Nigeria have already
promulgated edicts to support the promotion of girls¡¦ education. For example,
Kano State has prohibited the collection of all forms of fees in Girls'
Secondary Schools. Similarly, Gombe State promulgated an edict against the
withdrawal of girls from schools, while Niger, Bauchi and Yobe States have
removed financial disincentives affecting girls¡¦ enrolment in secondary schools.
Those who have dropped out as a result of early marriages and/or teenage
pregnancy are encouraged to return to school, as is the case with the Women
Day College in Minna, Niger State.

The effort of Federal Government of Nigeria and UNICEF in promoting the African
Girls Education Initiative (AGEI) (2002-2004), which was funded by the Norwegian
Government, recorded remarkable progress in terms of enrolment and retention.
The AGEI Evaluation Report revealed a 28% increase in Girls¡¦ Education Retention
(GER) and 80% decrease in drop-out rate for Girls in the 22 pilot primary schools
supported by the programme. The gender gap in states that benefited from the AGEI
reduced appreciably, for example Sokoto the gender gap fell from 41% to 38%,
while AGEI ensured that more communities assumed ownership of schools, through
increased vibrancy of schools¡¦ mothers¡¦ clubs, the tracking of school age
children not enrolled in schools, advocacy for HIV/AIDS protective behaviour,
and the abolition of harmful traditional practices.

PERSISTING CHALLENGES:

The following differences and gender disparities still pose residual challenges:
1: Gender and geographic disparities persist and the age group
disparities constitute a formidable challenge for Government.
The 2004 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) EdData showed
that a significant proportion of primary school pupils fall
outside the official age range for primary schooling.
Whereas the primary school Net Attendance Ratio (NAR) is
60 percent, the Gross Attendance Ratio is 91, indicating
that for every 60 pupils aged between 6 to 11 years, there
are 31 pupils who are either younger than age 6 or older
than age 11. As is the case with the NAR, the male GAR (98)
exceeds the female GAR (84), producing a gender parity
index of 0.86.

2: Geographic differences in both net and gross attendance
ratios are also substantial. The primary school Net
Attendance Ratio in the South-West (83 percent), in the
South-South (82 percent), and in the South-East
(80 percent), are nearly twice as high as the NAR in
the North- West (42 percent) and North-East (44 percent).
Literacy differences between the various geographic zones
are also dramatic. In 1999, the national adult literacy
rate was estimated to be about 50 - 58% for males and 41%
for females (a 17% gap). The overall literacy rate for
urban males was 75% compared with 59% for females (16% gap),
while gender disparity was higher in rural areas than in
urban areas with 51% of rural males being literate
compared with 34% rural females (17% gap).

3: Access to formal schooling still poses a problem. It is
estimated that 7.3 million children, of whom 60% are girls,
are not in school. Dropout is more pronounced at grade six
level, where more than 17% of children drop out of
school yearly.

4: The drop-out issue has multifarious dimensions, the most
significant of which are: early marriage for girls in the
North, boys and girls engagement in income generating
activities to supplement household income in the South
Eastern and North-Eastern parts of the country, respectively,
as well as in major state capitals. The poor quality of the
education system and perceived weak employment prospects for
school and university leavers are also key factors affecting
drop-out and low transition from primary to
junior secondary schools.

5: Recent Monitoring Learning Achievement studies conducted
on primary four and six pupils in the formal system, as well
as adolescents and youths in post literacy classes in the
non-formal system in Nigeria, revealed much weaker than
expected performance in the three key skill areas of
literacy, numeracy and life skills for both boys and girls
in both systems. This low level of learning achievement
is attributable to poor teacher quality, scarcity and/or
inadequacy of teaching and learning materials and a
general absence of learner-friendly environment.

ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES:

It is encouraging however, to see that parents in some parts of the country,
especially in the North, are willing to let their daughters participate in
other forms of education/training which are of shorter duration, close to
their area of residence and have flexible scheduling. These learning
centres are perceived to be more compatible with their cultural beliefs,
and more likely to give them functional skills and assuring them of future
employment. For the aforementioned reasons, the Non-formal approach to
education, which includes Islamic education, has found greater appeal
in the northern part of Nigeria.

Since 1997, UNICEF has been working with the Federal Government of Nigeria through
the National Mass Literacy Commission and with other agencies to provide three
forms of Non-Formal Education Programmes: (i) Non-Formal Education Girls' Education,
(ii) Non-Formal Education Qur¡¦anic Education and (iii) Non-Formal Education out of
school boys¡¦ Education. These three modalities specifically target out-of-school
children, adolescents and youth between the ages of 8-18 years, who are unable
to complete formal primary education, or have never been to school. The Non-Formal
Education Qur¡¦anic education programme, which has a great appeal in the Northern
states, especially Borno, Sokoto, Kano, Bauchi, has integrated four core subjects
(mathematics, English Language, Basic Science and Social Studies) into the
conventional Qur¡¦anic curriculum. The Universal Basic Education (UBE) Law also
makes provision for the integration of Non-Formal Education, including Quranic
education, in order to ensure that the needs of disadvantaged and
marginalized children are equally addressed.

In the needs analysis that informed the design of Girls' Education Project (GEP),
it became clear that illiterate women in the focus communities were also very
keen to become literate and numerate. Adult literacy was therefore included in
the project design. One particular activity that exemplified how linkages
are being established between skills training , literacy, income generation
and girls¡¦ attendance in primary school is the training of mothers and older
girls in literacy and skills, including provision of resources for
school uniforms for their daughters.

EXPANDING PARTNERSHIPS:

In support of Strategy for Accelerating Girls¡¦ Education in Nigeria (SAGEN), other
major partners are also reinforcing their efforts for girls¡¦ education. The World
Bank has recently recruited a focal point for girls education; UNESCO has
commissioned research in this area, United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) has
been supporting girls' education to ensure that more girls remain in school
longer; and USAID are considering scaling up their work with Islamiyah schools
in Northern Nigeria, as such schools often recruit more girls than boys. The
Ambassador's Girls Schooling Programme (an initiative of USAID) provides
US$60 per child for indigent families. A total of 13 states are targeted with
two states per geo-political zone plus the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Fifteen pupils per state are to benefit from the programme with the funds
disbursed through NGOs. Furthermore, all the major partners are
mainstreaming gender across their work.

WORKING WITH CIVIL SOCIETY:

In Nigeria, UNICEF works in close partnership with Civil Society in both formal
and non-formal sub-sectors, including partnership with Civil Society Action
Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA), the Civil Society Coalition for
Education - an umbrella organization encompassing NGOs around the country.
As a result of this collaboration, the Nigerian Girls¡¦ Education Initiative
was created this year and involves over 20 NGOs operating under Civil Society
Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA). The NGEI forum meets
quarterly to synergize plans with NGOs involved in girls¡¦ education around
the country. The last meeting this year will benefit from good practice
sharing in both formal and non-formal interventions at the grassroots level.
The Non-Governmental Organization for Literacy Support Services (NOLGASS)
operates under Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All to
coordinate NGOs in Non-Formal Education. There is regular information
sharing, participation in planning, capacity building and in monitoring
and evaluation activities. The NGO sector constitutes a good
delivery alternative especially in some parts of the country
where access is not easy.

CONCLUSION:

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Despite the above achievements, a major challenge remains as over 7 million
school-age children still do not go to school, while at least 17% of those who
go to school do not complete primary 6. Additionally, the quality of what is
learned at school still requires substantial improvement in teacher competences
and learning environment. This low capacity not only reduces the level of
learning but also compromises literacy and employment opportunities.

Poverty has been a major factor in the chronic under-enrolment of all pupils,
especially girls. Many parents are so poor that they pull their children out
of school for income generating activities, rather than paying for their
children's school fees so as to sustain their families. In such cases,
non-formal training can improve both literacy and employment prospects
by providing ¡§second chance¡¨ education to take care of drop-outs.
Measures should be taken to ensure that more non-formal educational
opportunities are made available to help children
escape the poverty trap.

Thank you so much for your attention.

____