PERL seeks support of community leaders on 2nd chance education
The Partnership to Engage Reform and Learn (PERL), on Wednesday sensitised and enlisted the support of community leaders on the implementation of Kaduna State Second Chance Education (SCE) programme.
PERL, a governance programme being funded by the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is creating a platform for citizens' participation in planning and implementation of government programmes.
Mr Istifanus Akau, State Partnership Facilitator PERL, said at the one-day consultative dialogue with the community gatekeepers in Kaduna that the goal was to ensure community participation in the implementation of the programme.
Akau said that the SCE programme was specifically designed for persons who missed the opportunity to acquire basic education or dropped out from school at any point for various reasons.
Akau said that the meeting was organised to sensitise and increase community leaders' understanding of the SCE Implementation Plan for their active participation.
He said that the meeting was also to prepare community leaders to begin identification of out of school children and school dropouts for the SCE programme according to identified clusters.
Akau said that the meeting would help participants to develop a simple register for use by the community leaders to capture out of school children and school dropouts in their communities.
According to him, the meeting is also to support enrolment drive through campaigns, dialogue, town hall meetings, house-to-house visits, and drama using role models in the community.
"We also want to agree on strategies for monitoring the learning centre, teachers' performance, facilities, safe spaces, and enrolment for the second chance programme.''
The Deputy Director Female Education, Kaduna State Ministry of Education, Mrs Aishatu Mohammed, commended PERL for moblilising community leaders to support implementation of the SCE programme.
Mohammed said that community participation, particularly community leaders, the gatekeepers was key to the success of the programme.
"The programme is designed for the benefit of community members who have missed the chance to acquire basic education, but the government cannot do this alone.
"We need the support of community leaders who will identify the out of school children and school dropouts in their various communities to give them a chance to acquire basic education," she said.
Also speaking, Mr Tijjani Aliyu, Citizens Co-chair, Kaduna Basic Education Accountability Mechanism, said that the community leaders have a critical role to play in the education of their community members.
Aliyu called on the community gatekeepers to support the process by working with relevant stakeholders in mobilising out of school children in their community including adult dropouts to benefit.
Earlier, the State Lead Facilitator, PERL, Mr Adejor Abel explained that PERL supported the development of the SCE Implementation Framework and Advocacy Strategy to ensure the success of the programme.
Abel said that PERL, a governance programme, was supporting how governments organised their core business of making and implementation of policies and programmes to deliver quality services to the public.
He said that the programme was also linking government with citizens to promote citizens participation in planning and implementation of government programmes.
Abel said that PERL would continue to support the provision of platforms for citizens engagement in the governance process to promote transparency and accountability and community ownership of government programmes.
Supreme reports that PERL had earlier mobilised the media, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and government partners to build synergy for the implementation of the programme.
The programme had so far reached 14 communities in 10 Local Government Areas (LGAs) across the state with support from the United Nations Population Fund.
About 700 dropped out married adolescent girls had been enrolled for the second chance education programme since inception in 2018 with support from the United Nations Population Fund.
A total of 50 dropped out married adolescent girls were enrolled in 2018, additional 50 in 2019 and 600 more between 2020 and 2021.
