From Khalid Idris Doya, Bauchi
Participants at a three-day stakeholder workshop on the National Gender Policy in Education for Bauchi State have adopted far-reaching draft decisions aimed at ensuring adaptation, legal backing, and implementation of the policy across schools and communities.
The workshop, coordinated by the Executive Director of Young Leaders Network (YLN), Mr. Seun Justin Onarinde, resolved that all partners should adapt the document after review and enforce its provisions in their daily activities.
On the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project, participants agreed that the State Ministry of Education (SMoE) and YLN should lead in publishing and widely disseminating the policy in schools, communities, and in local languages.
Civil society organisations were also charged to align all new proposals, strategies, and grant applications with the policy to ensure coherence and sustainability.
The resolutions further mandated the SMoE and other key ministries, departments, and agencies to translate the policy into practical work plans, budgets, and activities.
The Commissioner for Education is expected to brief the State Executive Council and the Governor to secure political support and ownership.
Mr. Onarinde also announced that a Steering Committee would be inaugurated immediately after adoption of the decisions, while stressing the need to strategically engage the media to create awareness and promote accountability.
“The policy is about rewriting the future of Bauchi’s children, especially girls who are often left behind due to early marriage, teenage pregnancy, or lack of support. Investing in girls’ education is not charity, but smart economics, justice, and common sense,” Onarinde said.
He urged stakeholders to be bold, practical, and inclusive in shaping a policy that reflects the realities of Bauchi communities and is lived out in classrooms.
The Bauchi State Commissioner for Education, Dr. Lawal Mohammed Rimin Zayam, described the policy as a step toward reducing the number of out-of-school children in Bauchi, noting that it aligns with ongoing AGILE initiatives.
He called for collective cooperation among stakeholders to ensure successful implementation.
Also speaking at the end of the workshop yesterday, the State Chairman of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, Musa Ibrahim Ardo, commended the process as a “marvelous policy-making activity” that would help ensure children, especially girls, complete their education.
He pledged that private schools would fully comply with the policy while sensitizing members on its provisions.
