In order to encourage the girl child education in the north especially in Bauchi state, a non governmental organisation is training some persons in order to create the awareness. NAJIB SANI reports.
The northern part of the country still has a high rate of out-of-school children especially the girl child. In many cases some of these girls are sent to hawk wares on streets in order to raise money for their families and for their upkeep while many others who do not hawk are being married out by their parents at tender ages to evade the responsibility of catering for their educational being.In view of that, many stakeholders advocate that the girl child, like their make counterparts in the north, should be allowed to acquire education, work in formal sectors so that they can be productive members of the society and ultimately contribute to national development.Such advocacies over the years have, of course, has gone a long way in improving the enrolment of girls in schools though numerous other parents still do not send their wards to schools for both cultural and economic reasons.
LEDAP to the rescue However, a non governmental organisation known as Legal Defense and Assistance Project (LEDAP) believes that poverty should not hinder children from having access to education. They demanded that basic education should be made free and compulsory in all the northern states in line with the Universal Basic Education Act.Therefore, as part of the efforts to promote the girl child education, LEDAP recently organised a special training in Bauchi state for 50 community members drawn from different areas of the state tagged ‘paralegals’ that would help in the advocacy for girl child education.
A paralegal is a person trained with basic knowledge of the law and the legal system. He or she is trained to understand different methods that can be used in dealing with disputes and legal matters to assist vulnerable and disadvantaged people in order to assert their rights without necessarily engaging the services of a lawyer or resorting to litigation which often times may be time- consuming and expensive.Those trained were youths, activists, members of civil society organisations and women groups who were tasked to be advocates of the girl child education in their different communities.
They were also enlightened to understand the fundamental rights of children especially their rights to education and how they can help the children not to be deprived of that right. The charge Speaking during the opening ceremony of the workshop last Tuesday held at the secretariat of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Bauchi state council, the state project coordinator LEDAP, Mr Mbami Iliya Sabka, said the organisation plays a very key role in the campaign for the girls child right to education in Nigeria.
According to him, “Education is a right of all children including the girls. Girls are being denied this right in our society. We therefore deem it a duty to change the narratives. We would continue to agitate that all girls are enrolled in schools.
“We also need support from all stakeholders to actualise that. Government should also make education free for the children,” Sabka pleaded.He said that in 2018, LEDAP obtained a ground-breaking judgment in the case of LEDAP versus the Federal Ministry of Education and Attorney General of the Federation delivered by a Federal High Court in Abuja which ruled that the girl child education should be made free and compulsory.He asserted that by virtue of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act of 2004, the right to free, compulsory and universal primary and junior secondary education under Section 18 (3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is an enforceable human right. Sabka said that the Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) in partnership with Malala Fund is undertaking the project in Kano, Kaduna, Adamawa and Bauchi states to implement the provisions of Universal Basic Education Act. He added that the project seeks to establish that everyone, especially the girl child has a right to free, compulsory and universal primary education and junior secondary education in Bauchi state. He therefore solicited for the signing of a memorandum of understanding between LEDAP and Attorney General of Bauchi state with a view to implementing LEDAP’s judgment against the Federal Ministry of Education and Attorney General of the Federation.
Training the facilitatorsA facilitator at the workshop, Barrister John Christopher Jaman, explained that the training was designed for paralegals to understand the provision of universal basic education Act so they could assist legal professionals and human rights activists in raising awareness on the matter.”Paralegals should understand that parents have a duty to send their children to school and should be able to raise awareness of this duty in their localities regarding the importance of the universal basic education Act.”The paralegal assists community people to understand, demand for and access their rights,” he said.He charged the participants of the workshop to not only advocate girl child education but to step down the training to other members of their communities.”As paralegals, you know the fundamental rights of all citizens. You should enlighten the public especially the vulnerable ones to know what their rights are and also help them to demand for such rights. At the end of this training, we expect you to be advocates of girl child education in Bauchi state,” Jaman urged the participants.
