AGILE offers financial support to 16,813 school girls in Katsina

Alhaji Mustapha Shehu, the programme Coordinator in the state said on Thursday in Katsina that the programme would cover girls in secondary schools.

He made the announcement at a zonal level community sensitisation and awareness campaign on the implementation of the AGILE project.

The event was to seek the support of traditional and religious leaders on issues of Gender Based Violence, digital skills for the girl-child and monitoring of the project.

“I want to inform you that on Monday, we have 16,813 girls that will be given the scholarship.

“Those in Junior Secondary School would be given N10,000 each, while those in Senior Secondary will be given N15,000 each.

“This support will be given to them to buy all the necessary learning materials they need, including uniforms,” the coordinator said.

Shehu added that in the next two weeks, the organisation will visit 230 primary schools in the state to find out the girls that have finished primary six or are about to finish.

“The visit is to enlighten them on the importance of transitioning to secondary from the primary level.

“If the schools resume in the next four weeks, once they get admission in their nearby secondary schools, they deserve to be given the scholarship.

“Their parents will only be informed about the development, but the money will be paid to the schools,” he added.

He said that AGILE had visited over 200 communities and consultated with traditional, community and religious leaders on the importance of girl-child education.

Shehu added that stakeholders meetings will be organised from time to time to discuss the successes of the project and the support needed from the public.

On the sensitisation meeting, the coordinator said it was to discuss a proposal by AGILE to earmark two hours during or after classes to teach girl students digital skills.

“A survey conducted by AGILE across 250 communities indicated that there is need to provide the girl-child with a skill, in case they don’t go beyond secondary school so that they can utilise it even when they are married.

“We also discussed with them the importance of protecting the girl-child from molestation, including sexual abuse.

“Some of them are lured with not more than N200. This always happens either due to poverty or lack of understanding of the importance of the girl-child,” he added.

The AGILE project is a five-year initiative of the Federal Government with support from the World Bank to provide educational opportunities to adolescent girls and empower them with lifelong skills to earn a living.