By Joy Gadani
The Basilieia Vulnerable Persons Rights Initiative (BVPRI) in partnership with the Helen Memorial Foundation (HMF) have called on stakeholders to support the review and effective implementation of the Second Chance Education Policy in Kaduna.
The NGOs made the call at a One Day Sensitization and Data Gathering Meeting with stakeholders in the education sector of the state.
The objective of the meeting was to enlighten participants on the gaps in the implementation of the Policy, and gain their commitment to support the Advocacy for ICT Remote Learning for Out of School Married Adolescent (AIRLOMA) Project.
Mrs Jennifer Agbaji, Founder and Executive Director of BVPRI, said despite the existence of the Second Chance Policy, married adolescent girls are unable to go back to school due to marital responsibilities, and for those who manage to go back, they end up as second time drop-outs.
As an Organization, BVPRI and HMF has identified the need for the review of the policy so that women can continue education remotely which will promote retention and completion for girls even when they get married. “Kaduna state is very keen on education, we observed the second chance policy allows for people who are drop-outs to return to school. However, we feel that it has not been utilized, and research shows that even those who key into the program become second time drop outs” she said.
Commenting on the initiative, the Representative from the ministry of Education, Mariam Ibrahim Abubakar, said that the State has made provision for the implementation of the Second Chance Policy which is captured in Section 6 of the Kaduna State Education Policy.
Maryam applauded the initiative and assured the organizations of the ministry’s commitment to ensuring the adequate implementation of the policy. “Today’s meeting is very interesting and educative and I also believe that when the policy is implemented, it will help our adolescent married girls to improve their learning by bringing them back to school to continue their education.” She said the ministry has developed the second chance policy for Kaduna State and they plan to commence full implementation in 2024. “From 2018-2020, we reached about 10 Local government, 14 communities. So we are going to continue from where we stopped and continue by extending the project to other LGAs”, she said.
The project is being implemented by Basileia Vulnerable Persons Right Initiative (BVPRI) and Helen Memorial Foundation (HMF) and funded by Rise Up, a program of the Public Health Institute, through funding from the Cummins Foundation. The advocacy will be supported by the married adolescent girls and other CSOs working on education.
