Jigawa Out-of-School Children: NGO enrolls 300 students in primary education

The Civil Society Action Collations on Education for All (CSACEFA), a non-governmental organisation, has enrolled 300 out-of-school children in primary school in Dutse, Jigawa State.

Speaking while enrolling the children at Fagoji Special Primary School, the programme manager of the JIgawa State Civil Society Action Collations on Education for All (CSACEFA), Malam Mustapha Yakubu, said this is part of an effort to reduce the number of schoolchildren in the state.

Malam Mustapha Yakubu explained that “the 300 children contained 150 males and 150 females mobilised from different parts of the Dutse local government area.”.

According to him, “The 150 male children are street beggars, while there were street hawkers who were either orphans or less predestined children who were not in school but are now enrolled.”.

He stated that the United Nations Children’s Emergency Funds (UNICEF), through the organisation, has supported the children with a set of uniforms, school bags, sandals, books, and writing materials.

Yakubu stated further that “this is part of the programme jointly carried out between the JIgawa through the Ministry of Women Affairs and UNICEF through CSACEFA for reducing the number of out-of-school children in the state.

The project manager maintained that “parts of CSACEFA activities are also a public enlightenment campaign to educate Almajiris and girls on the importance of being enrolled in school for a minimum of universal basic education.

“To this regard, we went around some local Arabic schools and villages, met with their local Malams, parents, and guardians, convinced them, and accepted sending their Almajiris and girls children to schools for modern education.”.

He added that “due to these efforts, we have now succeeded in enrolling 300 of them. We provided them with uniforms and writing materials to be in the schools.”.

Malam Mustapha Yakubu stated also that “during our tour, we also selected some teenagers for both male and females and trained on local trades and hand skills that are locally marketable, such as cap making, head weaving, etc., to be done at home and sales without going to hawks.”