The World Bank has recently set aside a $100 million grant to five states in Nigeria to improve girl child education, Tunde Adekola, Senior Education Specialist at the World Bank, has said.
Mr. Tunde stated this in Katsina at the inauguration of the project, saying the grant was provided to support the education of children, especially those at the rural areas to have access to qualitative education.
The grant was provided under the Nigerian Partnership for Education Project for Katsina, Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa and Sokoto states.
He stated that the grant would also be used for the training of teachers, renovation of schools, provision of teaching materials and offering scholarship to students.
“The World Bank would strengthen the school management system to improve the quality of education in primary schools”.
The World Bank official commended the five benefiting states for providing enabling environment and necessary teaching materials in schools, noting that the World Bank would collaborate with other developing agencies such as UNICEF, UNESCO and DFID for successful implementation of the project.
Earlier, the Governor of Katsina State, Aminu Masari, said his administration had set up a department of girl child education and appointed a Special Adviser for the office.
Masari said his government had given education top priority by setting aside 22 percent of the 2016 budget for the improvement of education sector.
He also said the state government had introduced scholarship programme for female teachers studying at Isah Kaita College of Education and other higher institutions in the state.
Mr. Masari commended the World Bank and other donour agencies for their financial support to the education sector.
In his remarks, the Emir of Katsina, Abdulmumini Kabir, expressed concern at the deplorable state of the education in the state, urging the government to rescue the sector.
