Katsina’s Drive to Educate the Girl Child Pays Off as Over 42,000 Return to School
By Fisayo Ogunsakin with agency reports
The Katsina State Government has enabled the return of over 42,781 girls to school under the World Bank-supported Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project, aimed at expanding access to secondary education for girls in underserved communities.
This achievement was disclosed by Dr. Mustapha Shehu, the state AGILE Coordinator, during a community sensitisation campaign on Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT) held Tuesday in Katsina. The campaign focused on strengthening grassroots awareness and engagement around girl-child education.
According to Shehu, the project, implemented over five years through four cohorts, has also supported more than 115,000 households economically. The fourth cohort, currently ongoing, is providing scholarships and cash support to an estimated 43,000 girls and 48,000 parents, in a bid to reduce financial barriers that often prevent girls from attending school.
Shehu explained that AGILE was introduced in the state following alarming statistics from surveys conducted in 2019 and 2020. The findings showed that 53 percent of pupils in primary school did not move on to junior secondary, while 43 percent failed to transition from junior to senior secondary. Girls constituted the majority of these dropouts.
Many communities still lack nearby schools, with some children walking up to 10 kilometers daily just to attend class, Shehu said. This contradicts the constitution which recommend that primary pupils should not walk more than five kilometers, and secondary students no more than seven.
He added that inadequate infrastructure, long distances to school, and deep-rooted poverty continue to limit educational opportunities for girls in rural areas. AGILE has responded by constructing and renovating learning facilities, distributing educational materials, and creating safer school environments.
One of the major components of the project, the Conditional Cash Transfer, was designed to reduce the financial burden on families and encourage school attendance. However, Shehu acknowledged challenges in identifying genuine beneficiaries, noting that over 2,900 ATM cards have gone unclaimed due to incorrect or ineligible registrations.
In one instance, a participating school enrolled primary five pupils instead of primary six, disrupting the transition tracking. Many of these students were later found to have remained in primary school rather than moving to junior secondary as expected.
Dr. Kubrah Muhammad, the CCT Coordinator for the project, emphasized that AGILE is not only about increasing enrollment but also about ensuring retention and completion of secondary education. She noted that beneficiaries are also being equipped with life skills to enhance their personal development and resilience.
By January 2025, the Katsina State Government announced that over 104,000 girls had received various forms of empowerment under AGILE, including digital learning devices, training in health and hygiene, and scholarships. The program has reached all 34 local government areas, spanning 255 secondary schools.
The state has also commissioned 75 new secondary schools and plans to build an additional 75 to address overcrowding and reduce the distance to school. Teachers and students have received training in safety and psychosocial support to foster a more secure and inclusive learning environment.
The AGILE project continues to serve as a model for boosting girls’ education in northern Nigeria, where cultural norms and economic hardship often limit educational outcomes for female students. Katsina’s progress, driven by both financial intervention and infrastructural investment, underscores the potential impact of sustained government and donor collaboration in reversing these trends.
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