How Sokoto out-of-school girls got their groove back with trade skills

A sixteen-year-old  Hajara aspires to go to school and become a successful doctor that will bring light to her family, community and society at large but her dreams of becoming a doctor are farfetched as she is out of school. Hajara, an indigene of Shanu in Sokoto State, said she has never been to a […]

A sixteen-year-old  Hajara aspires to go to school and become a successful doctor that will bring light to her family, community and society at large but her dreams of becoming a doctor are farfetched as she is out of school.

Hajara, an indigene of Shanu in Sokoto State, said she has never been to a formal school, not because she does not want to but because she has never had an opportunity to be in school as her parents did not offer her the means to go to school.

“I want to go to school because we have a neighbour whose father sent them to school. She was educated and always wears white as a health worker and she treats the community people whenever they are sick. She can give you drugs and injections when you are sick and she always tells us about the importance of education and we are always happy and wish we are also educated.

“Our father doesn’t send us to school because he said formal education is a waste of time and the money they will spend on education should be used for better things and to prepare for our marriage.

“My dream is to go to school and become a medical doctor because I saw the way our people especially the women are suffering in hospitals where we have male doctors, so if there are more female doctors they will be looking after their fellow women and men don’t have to be the one,” she said.

Hajara however finds solace in the Child Friendly Space established by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in partnership with Eleva Foundation in Dange-Shuni, Kware and Wamakko local government areas (LGAs) of Sokoto State, a one-stop centre that provides different educational skills and counselling support services for children that are in need of it.

She said she has learnt how to read in Hausa, English and simple maths and life skills.

“Before, I stayed home, and sometimes I decided to visit my friends and relatives but whenever I came back, my parents were angry and accused me of roaming about. But now I have learnt some skills that will help me make some money and help my family,” she said.

Hajara is among the no fewer than 60,000 out-of-school adolescent girls and almajiri children empowered by UNICEF and partners on lifelong skills in the five states of Sokoto, Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa, and Katsina.

Another out-of-school girl, Najaatu Shetima, 19yrs, who spoke at Child Friendly Space at Dengi Shuni LGA said the centre has taught her how to make soap for washing cars.

“I trained for three months. And since then, I’ve been self-reliant, saving up and making contributions. This centre has taught me so many things like making an earning to support my myself and family and the implications of early child marriage. Now I can educate my peers on the dangers of early marriage. I make up to N20,000 monthly,” she said.

She said before the training, “I was on my own doing nothing and can’t speak English. But now I can communicate in English. I learnt it here. I will advise other girls like me not to engage in child marriage but get a skill to do to earn a living.”

For Lilibasatu Musa, 17, she said they do not have an idea of what it means to be in school or have any skill before coming to the centre to learn trade skills and how to read.

“Today, we have learnt how to sow and the centre provides us with the materials and support to produce materials for sale, which we sell within our community, especially during the market days, and we make profits which the centre helps us to process and save. We use the profit to cater for our needs at home and save some for future use as well,” she said.

She said they started learning over months and now they make from N15,000 to N20,000 monthly.

Another girl, 16-year Amina Bello, thanked God and UNICEF for the opportunity, saying before now they did not go to school or have any career path or know what it means to be self-reliant until the centre was established.  

“With the centre now, I have learnt how to sew clothes and make other household items like shampoo and room freshener. When I start producing for sales I intend to save my profit for future use and if I have the opportunity, I will like to go back to school,” she said.

Meanwhile, other adolescent girls in another centre who are still learning shared their dreams and experiences.

Nafisa Mohammad, 15, who also aspires to be a doctor said:  “I come to the centre to learn. They teach us to read in Hausa and in English to learn some skills like  henna designs,  catering , and making of household items, pomade, plaiting, .

“I have never attended a formal school because my parents don’t send their children to school but if I had attended school, I would have loved to be a doctor. Though I have learnt how to plait hair and started learning how to make henna designs and snacks, I plan to start making them for sales when I am done learning. But if I have the means and offer to go back to school, I will take it,” she said.

Also , Hauwau Bello, 17, who has been coming to the centre to learn how to  read in Hausa and English as well as skill acquisition said  she has  never been to school, even when she  dreams of going to school to become a doctor.

“I am the first child of my family and I have three other siblings and none of us was sent to school.  We were told that since the time of our great grandparents they do not send their wards to school and ours will not be different.

“I told my parents that I wanted to go to school and they said no, so after learning I will start a business of making snacks and saving my profits to attend to my needs and future use like marriage,” she said. 

Hauwa’u, who does not mind going back to school to achieve her dreams of becoming a successful doctor in her community, said, “I would love to learn how to read and write in Hausa and English. If I have the opportunity to see our governor, I will plead with him to take me to school to become a doctor.” 

Another out-of-school girl, Habiba Naduma, 17, said she aspired to be a soldier to help safeguard her people but failing to be in school, she embraced coming to the centre to learn  how to read and learn some skills.

Habiba, who also has not been to any formal school, said there is no means for  her to go back to school now but  she desires to use any available  opportunity to go to school .

“But now I have to make do with what I am learning at the centre such as catering and henna designs, which I will leverage on to make ends means. If I save my profit, I can assist my parents at home and keep the rest to take care of my personal needs,” she said.

Meanwhile, the UNICEF’s Child Protection Specialist, Sokoto Field Office, Pius Uwamanua, said during a media field trip to the in Sokoto State that the Ministry of Women Affairs in collaboration with relevant Civil Society Organisation (CSO) partners, and with support of UNICEF verified and registered about 249,523 vulnerable children.

“This included 136,315O out-of-school girls and 113,208 almajirai through a household survey and visit to Tsangaya where many of the almajirai reside with their malams,” he said.

He said the target includes other children at risk such as survivors of GBV, VAC and children in contact with the law.

“Under the guidance of His Eminence of the Sultan of Sokoto, a multi-sectoral programme of intervention was developed to address the vulnerabilities and risks of the identified 249,523 almajirai and out-of-school adolescent girls in Sokoto State,” he said.

He explained that despite increasing primary enrolment in Sokoto State, 136,315 adolescent girls remained out-of-school.

He, therefore, said a data analysis carried out by UNICEF on the verified and registered children revealed the types of vulnerabilities that confront the children.

Uwamanua said the centre provided multi-sectoral support in different services for children such as vocational, digital, and mentorship training, among others, to the children.

“Now, this centre here is meant to provide support for these children and actually provide different kinds of services,” he said.

He added that the programme had also been able to eradicate the culture of silence with regards to early and forced marriages while also providing psychosocial support for the girls.

“Children have been transformed by this project. We find that children that have issues were provided legal and health services.

“You can see some of the children playing there for psychosocial support. So, there’s a lot of impact on the project.

“With this, a lot of children have been able to build resilience and coping mechanisms.

“Now, the fact is that people are willing now to report cases, because they know services will be provided. So, the issue of the culture of silence has been broken,” he added.

On the sustainability of the project, he explained that the organisations worked with a CSO to support the process with the Arabic Board and the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs.

Also speaking, the Executive Coordinator, Centre for People’s Health, Peace and Progress (3Ps), Cecilia Eseme, said there is a need for a mentorship programme for the children in order to resist pressure for early marriages.

Eseme said the project would continue to be strengthened to provide support for children whenever they needed one.

“We have the surveillance team that followup the children with issues; we also have counselors that counsel the girl-child to actually stand firm on her feet,” she said.