Group Advocates Renewed Support for Girl-Child Education

By Alphonsus Okoroigwe

A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Chianyiamanda Foundation has appealed for more support and attention to girl-child education, urging government at all levels to revive efforts at educating girls across the country.

This appeal was made by the group’s national vice president, Uche Ndukwu during its new year outreach at Okija, Anambra State Tuesday, decrying the dwindling attention to girl-child education in Nigeria.

“We appreciate the efforts made in the past to aid girl-child education in the country, but the rate at which attention to it is dwindling is very alarming,” she said.

“It’s high time governments and other stakeholders rallied round to review the situation and emerge with best steps to address it, as millions of our girls are still out there without education.”

She observed that though poverty, religion, and customs “still pose serious challenges, governments should show commitment by strengthening legislations to truly ensure basic education for the girl-child.”

Statistics show that many Nigerian girls droup out of school between primary and junior secondary stages of education, with over 66 percent hardly completing junior secondary school.

The group’s outreach this year was coloured with donation of food items and award of scholarships, with hundreds of women and children benefitting.