‘Zamfara has 68,000 out-of school girls’

Zamfara State has about 68,000 out- of- school girls, chairperson of the High Level Women Advocate on Girl Child Education (HILWA) in the state, Hajiya Suwaiba Barau, said.

Speaking at an event to mark the International Day of the Girl Child, Hajiya Suwaiba said there is a need to boost enrolment and retention of the girl child in schools.

She said household mappings conducted by the group across the 14 local government areas of the state last year showed that about 68,000 girls are out of school, adding that the trend must be reversed if meaningful development is to be achieved.

She noted that girl child education is an important tool for reshaping the society.

“Female students were drawn from various schools to actively participate in the event and inspire them to aim for quality education. If you can observe, women who from different and numerous professional callings are also here and the young girls can look up to them as role models”, she said.

The group, according to her identified sociocultural and economic impediments as factors militating against girl child education not only in Zamfara State, but the entire Northern region.

She said unless the identified barriers are removed, they would continue to constitute a clog to the educational pursuit of young girls.

She urged parents to encourage their female children to pursue education while challenging those in governance to formulate policies that would motivate young girls to seek knowledge.