By Kolawole Omoniyi
Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has ordered the immediate construction of secondary schools in Dan-Shayi and Gishiri Wuya communities, following a report of lack of educational access in some rural areas of the state.
The communities are respectively situated in Rimingado and Warawa Local Government Areas (LGA) of Kano State.
Grassroots Parrot had reported how the Dan-Shayi community has not had a secondary school graduate for over 300 years, and the Gishiri Wuya community has only five girls attending a secondary school 12 kilometers away.
The report exposed the alarming number of out-of-school girls in Kano rural communities as stakeholders are advocating for the need to mainstream a gender responsive approach in the state’s Education Sector Plan (ESP) to address the gaps.
However, barely 48 hours after the report was published and aired on Arewa Radio, Wazobia Fm and Cool fm, the governor directed the state commissioner for education to visit the affected communities and begin the process of building befitting schools in the areas.
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The commissioner, Umar Haruna Doguwa, on Sunday led a delegation that visited the Gishiri Wuya community, while the permanent secretary of the ministry, Bashir Baffa Muhammsd, led a delegation that went to the Dan-Shayi village.
The community elder, Abubakar Dan-Shayi, confirmed the governor’s directive and promised to provide free land for the construction.
“Today very early in the morning, people from the ministry of education, including a permanent secretary, came here that the governor directed them to inspect the community after hearing reports of girls education challenges in the village.
“The governor promised to build junior and senior secondary schools for us. He asked if we get land, and we promised to provide free land for the construction. God will bless the governor and your media organization for their news report that prompted this move.” He said.
Also, Alhaji Lamido Sunusi Ahmad, Chairman of the Warawa Local Government Area, confirmed that the governor ordered the construction of a befitting primary and junior secondary in the Gishiri Wuya community.
“On behalf of the Gishiri Wuya community in Katarkawa Ward, Warawa Local Government Area, we are happy to receive the Commissioner of Education, Umar Haruna Doguwa, and his team.
“This visit was made possible by the directive of His Excellency Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf, who is passionate about advancing education in Kano State.
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“The community had expressed a pressing need for a girls’ secondary school, prompting the governor’s swift response, and a good Samaritan has already volunteered land for the project. The commissioner will assess the site and take the necessary action.
However, while this gesture of the governor and his cabinet is commendable, experts again reiterate the need to mainstream a gender-responsive approach into the education sector policies in the state to holistically address all other rural communities that have similar challenges, like Dan-Shayi and Gishiri Wuya.
Mohammed Bello, Chief Executive Officer of the Africa Center for Innovative Research and Development, said such a move would pave the way for a Gender Responsive Education Sector Planning (GREPS) that could integrate all international and national education policies billed for domestication in the state.
GREPS aims to address gender issues in education through gender-sensitive plans and policies, focusing on promoting gender equality beyond mere parity in education policies.
Bello said: “In terms of Kano ESP being gender responsive, it is far from reality. Truly, Kano has made tremendous efforts in funding initiatives to motivate girl child education, but there are no specific and measurable indicators to say this is what the numbers are saying and how the gender disparity gaps are being closed because the last education census in Kano shows disparity in education in favor of boys.” Bello said.
He highlighted some of the gender responsive indicators, including separate WASH facilities for females and males, to address the issue of girls staying away from class during menstruation.
Others are scholarships for underprivileged girls, rural education access, resource mobilization for boys and girls, gender-responsive curriculum development, and reducing male-to-female teacher recruitment, training, and leadership positions.
“For instance, we don’t want to see a curriculum that shows the boys wearing telescopes and the girls in the kitchen as if only boys are meant to study science courses. Another indicator is the ratio of male to female teachers and training opportunities.
“Also, we should see leadership in school incorporating females and also provision of guardians and counseling females to counsel these girls on the path to career living.” Bello said.
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He also advised that the state should domesticate the National Policy on Education and integrate all national policies addressing gender mainstreaming into state policy.
“The state needs to take a deliberate step in the domestication of the National Policy on Education and ensure that all the national policies that target mainstreaming gender in education will now be integrated into the state policy that is being domesticated to contextualize the policy, looking at the education landscape of the state and the existing national frameworks.
“The frameworks include the National Policy on Gender in Education, the National Gender Policy on Basic Education, and the Conventional Framework SDG 4 and 5. They have to bring all these frameworks together and see how they can be contextualized in Kano State and integrated into the state education sector policy because you need a comprehensive framework that is gender responsive that guides the education service delivery at state level, and that single document you can always pinpoint to should be Kano State Policy on Education; now they (Kano) don’t have that.” He added.