The UN Children’s Fund(UNICEF) and other critical stakeholders including UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) have called for implementation of the National Policy on Gender in Education.
They made the call at the inauguration of the policy by the Ministry of Education on Monday, in Abuja.
The Chief of Education, UNICEF Nigeria, Saadhna Panday, said the launch was a demonstration of transformative political will and strategic investment in girl-child education in Nigeria.
She, however, noted that the challenge was how to deliver the proven strategies through sustainable delivery mechanisms with speed, scale, and quality.
“On behalf of UNICEF I wish to congratulate the Federal Ministry of Education on this landmark achievement.
“UNICEF was delighted to work with the Nigerian government, FCDO and other partners in bringing the policy to fruition,” she said.
Panday noted that it was critical for countries like Nigeria with large, youthful populations to be at the forefront of driving transformative change to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
She stressed that success in Nigeria would mean success for Africa and the entire world.
“There is a rich store of data on the benefits accruing to girls, women and to societies when investments are made in girls’ education, in particular secondary education.
“It dramatically increases the lifetime earnings of girls, child marriage rates decline, child mortality rates decline.
“Nigeria has made bold strides in closing the gender gap in education, but significant regional disparities remain in enrollment, retention, and transition rates for girls.
“This is fueled by among other factors, high rates of poverty, safety and security concerns, gender biases and social norms and traditions,” she said.
Panday expressed concern that the COVID-19 pandemic and level of insecurity in some parts of the country rolled back hard-fought gains in education participation.
She added that too many girls were at high risk of never returning to the classroom, adding that “in middle income countries, poor academic performance and drop out is also becoming a boy’s phenomenon.”
Panday assures of UNICEF’s commitment to working with government, partners, communities, teachers, parents, and students to deliver high quality education Services for every girl and boy.
Mr Abdoulaye Salifou, Regional Advisor for Higher Education and Information Communication Technology (ICT) UNESCO called on stakeholders to ensure that the policy did not become a stock on the shelves.
He said all must be done to ensure that it was implemented, reported and monitored, adding that it was important to articulate indicators for monitoring implementation of the policy.
Salifou said large gender gaps existed in access learning achievement and continuation in education in many settings most often at the expense of girls.
He noted that in some regions boys were at a disadvantage.
He, however, disclosed that early marriage and pregnancy, gender-based violence and traditional attitudes about the status and role of women were among the main obstacles to women and girls fully exercising their rights to participate in complete and benefit from education.
“Gender equality is a global priority or UNESCO and linked to it’s efforts to promote the right to education and support the achievement of the SDGs.
“The education 2030 agenda recognises that gender equality requires an approach that ensures that girls and boys, women and men not only gain access to and complete education cycles but empowered equally.
“UNESCO’s work on education and gender equality is focused on system-wide transformation to benefit all learners equally,” he said.
He stressed that UNESCO’s work on education and gender equality was to support targeted action for girls’ and women’s empowerment across three areas of priority, which are, better data, better policies and better practice.
Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mr Sonny Echono, said the Federal Ministry of Education had done a lot in improving access and retention in schools.
He, however, noted that in spite of the efforts being made, a huge number of girls and boys were still out of school, calling for collaboration to ensure that they returned to school.
Echono said, the revised National Policy on Gender in Education was a step in the right direction as it cuts across all levels of education and capturing emerging issues.
“All sectors and states should ensure that it is used as a tool for achieving not only gender equality and equity but achievement of SDG 2030 Agenda.
He disclosed that the Ministry was statutorily responsible for formulating education policies and ensures the buy in by the 36 states of the Federation and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The National Policy on Gender in Education 2021 is the revised version of the National Policy on Gender in Basic Education, which was published in 2006.
The revised version is an all inclusive policy that includes all levels of education and emerging trends like insecurity and COVID-19 pandemic as against the 2006 version which only covers basic education.
The high point of the launch was breakdown of the policy review by the Technical Drafting Lead, Prof. Aisha Ismail and presentation of the policy document by Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba.
