At least, 20,802 out-of-school children including girls and Almajiris in three local governments of Katsina State will benefit from N332,833,000 support from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as part of efforts to improve school enrollment in the state.
The local government areas to benefit from the Educate a Child (EAC) Cash Transfer Programme for Out of School Children, as the financial aid is called are: Kafur, Mani and Safana.
The UNICEF chief of the Kano office, Rahama Farah, said the funds will be disbursed through “10,557 female parents and caregivers to assist 20,802 children to return to school.
Mr Farah was speaking Friday afternoon in Mani during the official flag-off of the cash transfer programme.
“Each female parent/caregiver will receive N8,000 per tranche, twice in 2022, amounting to N16,000 per beneficiary,” he said.
The cash transfer, he said, would ensure that beneficiaries are not only enrolled in school but retained.
Mr Farah said the schools, including the Integrated Quranic Schools, have been provided with literacy and Numeracy skills “linked to employability and livelihood schemes.”
He also called on the Katsina State government to allocate more resources to the education sector.
“In addition to putting in place necessary legislations, I would like to urge the Katsina State Government to allocate and dispense more resources to the education sector, especially the development budget that addresses the improvement of the learning environment that directly impacts the quality of learning outcomes,” he said.
In a short speech, Aminu Masari, the governor of Katsina State, said the intervention was a welcome development that would help in decreasing the number of out-of-school children in the state.
“The partnership between Katsina State Government and UNICEF has yielded many positive results, not just in the education sector but in other sectors of the state,” he said.
“We are grateful to UNICEF and the Educate A Child (EAC) project for the funds. The Programme Implementation Unit for the cash transfer programme will monitor the programme closely and ensure that the beneficiaries make judicious use of the resources,” Mr Masari said.
The Katsina State commissioner for education, Badamasi Charanci, said the administration has employed teachers, and provided learning materials and infrastructure which have helped to improve the academic performance of the students.
He commended the UNICEF for sponsoring the Educate A Child (EAC) and Girls Education Project (GEP) which he said has improved the literacy rate in Katsina State.
“These activities of Qatar Foundation/UNICEF and the efforts of the Katsina State Government in the provision of improved Quality of Education in the State. This is witnessed by having our Primary School Pupils winning Prizes in Presidential Debates, Quiz and Qur’anic Recitation Competitions,” he said.
