The federal government has launched the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project to improve the learning outcomes of girl children across the country.
The AGILE Project is a World Bank-supported Federal Ministry of Education project aimed at improving secondary education opportunities for adolescent girls aged 10 to 20.
While inaugurating the committee in Abuja, Nigeria, the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, stated that the project is critical to the nation because it aims to reduce the challenges faced by schoolchildren.
He implored the state chapters and committee members to guarantee the project’s sustainability.
The project, which is being carried out in seven states—Borno, Ekiti, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, and Plateau—is a $500 million credit from the World Bank to the Federal Government.
Executive secretaries from SUBEB, commissioners of education from eighteen states, and pertinent Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) made up the inaugural committee.
The Minister applauded the project’s achievements thus far and described it as a practical model to address some significant issues facing the education sector, particularly rescuing the millions of out-of-school youth from homelessness.
He pleaded with the participating states to avoid acting as a “weak link” in achieving the project’s objectives.
“We have achieved remarkable success in the first seven pilot states, and eleven more are joining the fold. If we can replicate this success in the remaining eighteen states, we will have reduced the number of out-of-school children in the nation by half, as there are currently 36 states in all.”.
The Minister of State for Education, Dr Yusuf Sununu in his remark said the inauguration was aimed at creating system reforms for expansion of access and provision of financial incentives for the girl child.
He urged the commissioners of education of the various states to make use of the available resources judiciously,
The World Bank Country Director, Shubham Chaudhuri, said the bank is passionate about the project as it would give the girl child the opportunities to contribute to their families, communities, and the nation.
The Project Coordinator, Hajia Amina Haruna, said the project has reached over 2.4 million beneficiaries across the seven states.
“Over 7,967 non-functional classrooms renovated and in use in the seven states. 84,567 teaching and learning materials to schools and in use,” she said.
She, however, called for the commitment of the state government to recruit qualified teachers for the proper impact of the project.
She that the federal government and the World Bank had finalised an agreement for 11 additional financing states to join the initial seven pilot states, which include: Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara,
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