Out-Of-School Children: 27 Journalists to Track Government’s Gender Responsiveness in Education Planning

Twenty-seven journalists in Nigeria have begun a 10-month fellowship on Gender Responsive Education Sector Planning (GRESP) to track government’s gender responsiveness in education sector planning in nine states.

The journalists, who were selected from Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Oyo, and Sokoto, are fellows of the Change Reporting 2.0 Media Fellowship on GRESP – a programme organised by ImpactHouse in partnership with the System Strategy and Policy Lab (SSPL).

Commencing with a two-day capacity-building programme for the journalists from various media platforms, the fellowship arose from the need to advocate for education systems to be intentionally gender-responsive to enhance access, completion, and gender equality in education.

Facilitated by seasoned civil society leaders and development journalists, the gathering provided an invaluable platform for journalists to deepen their understanding of GRESP and to refine their skills in driving the advocacy for improved gender responsiveness in education sector planning, which can help in reducing the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria.

No fewer than ten million children are out of school in Nigeria, and the already staggering figure does not account for those who are out of senior secondary school, suggesting that the actual number of children deprived of education is even higher. Among these out-of-school children, girls are disproportionately affected due to socio-economic barriers, cultural practices, and early marriage. The lack of access to education for girls not only limits their personal development but also undermines the nation's progress.

Therefore, critical areas covered at the event included operational plans with a strong girls’ education focus; purposeful gender-responsive budgeting for state education sector plans in state annual budgets; supportive administrative structures for implementing gender-responsive plans; supportive and gender-responsive policies and laws in the ecosystem of the plan; and training of senior officials who can implement learnings.

‘The enthusiasm and engagement of the participants were truly inspiring. This fellowship has not only enhanced the capacity of journalists but has also strengthened our collective efforts towards achieving gender-responsive education sector planning in Nigeria’, said John Andah, Executive Director, ImpactHouse.

In the course of the 10-month fellowship, ImpactHouse would provide participants with the resources they need to track and report on state governments’ gender responsiveness in education sector planning to prompt attention and action from policymakers and decisiontakers.

The facilitators at the programme included the Founder and Executive Director of SSPL, Dr Murtala Adogi Mohammed, Executive Director of ImpactHouse, Executive Director of Hope for Communities and Children Initiative (H4CC), Hadiza Umar, and Executive Director of Unique Care and Support Foundation (CASFOD), Benjamin John.?

Other facilitators included the Senior Programme Officer at ACE Charity, Dr Hassana Shuaibu, the Programme Director at the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), Babatunde Akintunde, Director Programmes at Connected Development (CODE), Zaliha Lawal, and Data Journalist with Dataphyte, Kafilat Taiwo.