In a bid to ensure qualitative inclusive Education, Actionaid Nigeria has launched its findings on impediment and impact stories of the four years Breaking Barrier Project in Lagos and Sokoto States.
The project, tagged ‘Tax Justice and Gender Responsive Service’, commenced in 2018 with a view to identifying challenges impeding free compulsory and quality basic education, especially for the marginalized children, girls and children with disabilities.
At the dissemination and close-out meeting of the project in Abuja, the Country Director of Actionaid Nigeria, Mrs Ene Obi, challenged Federal and State governments in the country to ensure all schools are inclusive with increased educational budgetary allocation sector as stipulated by the Sustainable Development Goal 4.
Mrs Obi said, “education is the greatest investment for any nation and when you are educating the children of your country, give them something to go and study, better their education life.
“You are not doing them a favour. You are investing in your human capital and preparing the human capital for your economy. And that should be a priority of every government.
On her part, the National Coordinator of the project, Mrs Kyauta Giwa, commended Lagos and Sokoto State governments for the open door policies during the breaking barrier project.
However, Mrs Giwa said there are more gaps to be bridged to ensure that no child is left behind in accessing qualitative inclusive education irrespective of their disabilities, with a call on relevant stakeholders to sustain the gains of the projects in public schools to increase enrollment of students, especially girls.
She said, “We want to continue to ask the states to look at issues around ensuring that there is no discrimination, that the right of every child is respected in school, both girls and children with disabilities.
“To ensure that adequate personnel are on the ground to teach them, facilities and assistive devices that they need to be able to learn effectively is what we are also recommending and measures in place to curb violence against girls in school.”
Some of the project’s beneficiaries in the two implementing States thanked ActionAid Nigeria for exposing girls to a safe space that enables them to gain confidence and speak up against abuse and violence at home and in school.
The high point of the dissemination meeting was the presentation of awards to deserving stakeholders during the four years-project.
The Breaking barrier project, which was funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development (NORAD), was executed simultaneously in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Nigeria.