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Bauchi State First Lady, Hajiya Aisha Bala Mohammed
By Akanji Alowolodu, Bauchi
Bauchi State Government has been urged to as a matter of priority, provide an enabling environment to promote and encourage digital learning among students across the state in order to enable the girl-child realize her full potentials and become a model in the society.
The call was made on behalf of girl-children in Bauchi state by Aishatu Abdullahi who was elected President of the Girl-Child in the State during the event organized to mark the 2021 International Day of the Girl Child, held at the Banquet Hall of the Government House, Bauchi.
Aishatu Abdullahi who is a student of Government Day Secondary School, Sa’adu Zungur, Bauchi, said that the call became necessary in order to reduce the number of Out-of-School children in the state which she said is becoming alarming especially the girl-child.
She also urged the state government to initiate a policy that will facilitate establishment of post basic schools attached to every primary school across the state in order to ensure continuity of learning and reduce the dropout rate in the state.
She said that, “The girls ask the state government to help in providing an enabling environment for teaching and learning with focus on digital and technical innovations. The girls also ask for recruitment of more female teachers in schools to encourage the retention of girls in schools”.
Aishatu Abdullahi added that, “To also help in creating specific policy that will ensure availability of a junior secondary school attached to every primary school, to enhance continuation of learning and reduce the dropout rate of girls in schools,”.
In a keynote address, Bauchi State First Lady, Hajiya Aisha Bala Mohammed, stressed that the girls assembled for the celebration were truly of the digital age, adding that they should be prepared to present themselves anywhere as girls of the digital generation.
The Governor’s Wife further charged the girls to take up the challenge of the digital age saying, “Let me use this opportunity to call on you to be ready to exude your readiness to learn, use technology and become women in technology in a few years to come”.
She further charged the girls to, “Make Bauchi state proud by becoming software, hardware and competent engineers that will help to solve development and social challenges facing our state and country at large,”.
The Governor’s Wife then urged parents to take the advantage of digital entrepreneurship as a means of retaining the girl-child in schools and help them to attain their potential just as she also urged government at all levels to provide necessary support to assist the girl-child to become educationally empowered.
She, however said that the Governor Bala Mohammed led administration has invested extensively in the education sector in the last 2 years and will continue to do so to help the children to attain their potential.
In his brief remarks, UNICEF Chief of Field Office, Bauchi, Mr Tushar Rane, said that sequel to that closure of schools occasioned by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the UN agency in collaboration with the state government developed a strategy to ensure that students continued to learn while at home through radio and television educational programs.
Tushar Rane who was represented by UNICEF Education Specialist, Mr Raphael Aiyedipe, said that the organisation realized that teaching and learning could be taken out of the four corners of classroom.
He said that, “This means teaching and learning can go on even while the children are at home and that is why the theme of this year is, “Digital Generation not without Girls. We know that the world is becoming a global village and while at home you can learn and that has taught us a very good lesson”.
“But there is the need for us to build the capacity of all the children to be digitally inclined,” he said.
In her remarks earlier, the UNICEF Focal Person in SUBEB, Hajiya Halima Umar, said that Oct. 11 has been set aside by the UN to promote the rights of girls and address challenges facing the girl-child.
Halima Umar further said that the day will enable diverse groups with the same goal to deliberate and act towards the promotion and advancement of the rights of the girls.
“This day also highlights gender inequalities that remain between boys and girls as well as highlights the various sorts of discriminations and abuse suffered by girls around the world,” she said.
According to her, the gender gap for internet users has grown from 11 per cent in 2013 to 17 per cent in 2019, adding that in a developing country like Nigeria, the percentage hovers around 43 per cent.
It will be recalled that on Dec. 19, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 to declare Oct. 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child.
The Day is aimed at encouraging girls to know their digital realities and the solutions they need to pave way to freedom of expression, joy and boundless potential.
The Bauchi event was jointly organized by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Bauchi State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), as part of activities to celebrate the Day in the state.
