A significant number of girls in Gombe State remain out of school, underscoring the challenges to promoting girl child education in the state.
The development can be attributed to many factors, but stakeholders also pointed out that the low number of female teachers, principals, and administrators in schools in the state impacts girls’ education.
Statistics by the state ministry of education revealed that the enrolment of girls in primary schools in the state is estimated to be 44.6 per cent and 41.5 per cent in junior secondary school, which implies that more than half of the state’s school-aged girls are out of school.
It further indicated that the figure declines to 38.5 per cent in senior secondary schools.
The state project coordinator of Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE), Amina Haruna Abdul, in an interview with LEADERSHIP revealed that in the North East, Gombe is the first on the list of children roaming the streets.
Other stakeholders blamed low female representation in the teaching job and the state school administration for the lack of significant improvement in girls’ education over the years.
A female lawyer and women activist in the state, Barrister Martha Daniel, pointed out that there is a problem in the representation of females in positions of principals in the state, opining that having women manning the schools can enhance enrolment and retention of girls in schools.
She lamented that females are mostly allowed to be principals in female boarding schools, saying that is not sufficient as “the boys need to see women serving as principals too so that when they grow up, they will not oppose women holding big positions.”
She called for an urgent review of the state education sector plan to capture the need to appoint more female principals in schools.
“When you talk about female principals, that is where the problem comes in. We need female principals in our secondary schools not just vices. We need role models.
“When I see a woman in a position, I feel more comfortable. It can enhance enrolment and retention of girls in schools in northern Nigeria. But most times when the girls see that it is a man that is always the principal, when they are confronted with issues, they can’t open up. So that we don’t leave the girl child behind, it is important that we increase the number of female principals we have particularly in Gombe state,” she said in a conversation with our correspondent.
Checks by our correspondent indicated that there is a wide gap in the number of both female teachers and female principals in the state compared to the men.
The data made available to LEADERSHIP from the state ministry of education showed that the total number of teachers in government primary and secondary schools is 18,878, with females constituting 6,984, which represents 37 percent. The males make the higher figure of 63 percent. This is even as the number of female principals stands at 9 percent in the available data.
Also speaking on low female teachers in Gombe State, the northeast zonal coordinator of Civil Society Action Coalition on Education For All (CSACEFA), Halima Mahadi, said recruitment of more female teachers is crucial and advocated that such should be captured in the state’s new education sector plan.
She complained that even in female schools where females run the schools, “only the principal is female and all other teachers are males.”
State chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Ali Baba Dalhatu, said there is Female Teachers Scheme (FTS) in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the state government to give qualified female teachers on training in schools permanent and pensionable appointments every two years.
He expressed optimism that if that is done, the female teachers will outnumber the males in near future.
In her submission, the principal of Government Girls Mega College, Doma, Fatima Ali Baba, suggested that to motivate girls, more female teachers should be recruited in the state education plans.
“More teachers to be employed especially the female teachers. You know female teachers are different from male teachers in terms of counselling and guiding the students.
“Students will feel free to express their mind to a female teacher, be it a science teacher or an art teacher. But if it is a male teacher, that female student will not feel comfortable even to ask questions where she doesn’t understand any topic in the class”, she said.
An analysis of the education sector plan being used in the state for years, shows gaps in terms of gender responsiveness, thereby impeding significant improvement in girl child education in the state.
Also commenting on the state education plan, Abubakar Sadiq Mohammed, head of the Education Management Information System (EMIS) of the Ministry of Education, noted that the state’s previous education plan failed to critically address gender issues, but the newly developed plan prioritises gender equality and parity.
LEADERSHIP reports that the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Bauchi field office, in charge of Gombe, Bauchi, Plateau, Adamawa and Taraba states reviews and develops comprehensive State Education Sector Plan (SESP) and State Education Sector Operational Plan (SESOP) aimed at addressing gaps in the previous education plans of Gombe State.
Moreover, the state project coordinator of AGILE, Amina Haruna Abdul, said to address out-of-school girls in the state, AGILE, a project of the state government supported by the World Bank would offer a second chance education, providing training, materials, and registration for out-of-school girls to acquire skills and education.
While responding to the low number of female teachers and female principals in the state, commissioner for Education Aishatu Maigari pledged they are changing the narrative.
“We are now changing the narrative. Because of His Excellency’s (Governor’s) policy, I have also directed that where a female is well equipped to be a school administrator, let her be appointed. Let’s encourage the women. So we have more female principals and we have more female head teachers as against how we met it”, she retorted.
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