A total of 120 schools across Bauchi State are to be either constructed or renovated and equipped with furniture at various communities of safe distance and saturation of population within the 18 months of the first phase of the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) Project.
The exercise will be carried out under the Schools Expansion component of the project as explained by the State Project Coordinator and Focal Person, Dr Jamila Dahiru.
She was speaking at a breakfast meeting with Media Executives, members of the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) and other stakeholders on the level of preparations for the commencement of the Project.
According to the Focal Person, 60 schools would be provided with ICT facilities with 5000 SS One students as beneficiaries of the digital skills from the selected schools.
Jamila Dahiru further highlighted the importance of the reproductive and nutritional needs of the beneficiaries under the intervention, emphasising that soft skills such as shoe making, tailoring, and catering among others would form part of the components.
She further disclosed that apart from 30 non-formal learning centres captured under its school’s improvement grant and second chance education, stakeholders including parents, members of SBMCs and Teachers would be trained to ensure proper implementation, monitoring, ownership and sustainability.
According to her, the SPIU has already embarked on Study Tour to some selected beneficiary states to ensure that all challenges encountered in the project implementation were avoided.
She also used the medium to appeal to Media Executives in the state to support the project in the area of advocacy and sensitisation towards changing the negative indices and narrative of out-of-school children especially among girls to ensure inclusion and gender balance.
The Project Coordinator disclosed that already, the State Government has already paid counterpart funds of the sum of N150m to the World Bank to enable it to access the amount approved based on the proposal submitted.
She added that a work plan has been developed and submitted stressing that barring any unforeseen circumstances, the work plan which was adjudged as one of the best among the implementing states will be approved.
The AGILE project has three main components designed for implementation to include Safe and Accessible Learning Spaces, Fostering an Enabling Environment for Girls as well as System Strengthening and Project Management.
The Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment, (AGILE) Project is a World Bank assisted project of the Federal Ministry of Education geared at improving Secondary Education opportunities for adolescent girls aged between 10 and 20.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
and then