Northern Stakeholders Trained In School Enrolment Advocacy

The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have commenced a three-day capacity-building programme for School-based Management Committee (SBMC) stakeholders from the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to strengthen community participation in schools and boost enrolment.

The training, which opened in Kano yesterday, focused on revised operational documents for School-based Management Committees to improve school governance, accountability and community ownership of basic education.

At the event, UBEC’s director of Social Mobilisation, Adamu Gurama, represented by the head of Community Engagement and Social Mobilisation, Patricia Uche, said the programme was designed to equip participants with the skills needed to support functional SBMCs and tackle the challenge of out-of-school children.

She said the revised documents include the SBMC Operational Manual, Guidelines for Monitoring and Mentoring of SBMCs in Nigeria and the SBMC School Improvement Plan Implementation Manual.

According to her, the training is expected to improve participants’ understanding of the revised manuals, strengthen their capacity to mentor and monitor SBMCs, and enhance collaboration among government agencies, civil society groups and communities.

Uche said the revised manuals now address emerging issues such as climate change, gender-based violence, safe schools and education in emergencies.

“Flooding, insecurity, bullying and sexual harassment have increasingly affected education delivery. We revised the documents to reflect current realities and ensure these challenges do not hinder learning,” she said.

She added that the revised documents had already taken effect and would soon be published and distributed across states for implementation.

Representing the executive chairman of the Kano State Universal Basic Education Board, Yusuf Kabir, the director of Upper Basic Schools, Maikudi Abdul Al-Alawi, commended UBEC and UNICEF for organising the training.

He described SBMCs as critical platforms for promoting transparency, accountability and community participation in school management, adding that Kano had continued to support SBMC activities through operational funding and office accommodation.

Also, National SBMC official, Kabir Aliyu, disclosed plans to digitalise SBMC operations nationwide to improve monitoring and enable school communities to report challenges for prompt intervention.

He said the training would be cascaded to states and grassroots communities to strengthen school governance and support increased school enrolment across Northern Nigeria.