By: Mayen Etim

KADUNA, North-West, Nigeria – Kaduna State Ministry of Human Services and Social Development, has said the project, Learning Without Limits, (LWL), has helped to break the barriers of tribalism and religious differences among Christians and Muslims in the state, thereby fostering peaceful coexistence.

Speaking at an event on Saturday, June 4, 2023, organized by a Non-Governmental Organization, Empowering Women for Excellent Initiative, (EWEI), to mark its 15th Anniversary, Deputy Director, Gender, MHS&SD, Lami Usman, noted that the project has brought adolescent girls close knitted, working together, thereby breaking the barriers of tribalism and religious intolerance in the state.

According to her, there has been this thorny issues of tribal and religious differences, but with the project LWL, these young girls imbibed the culture of tolerance, work hard together not minding their differences, all in a bid to see that things are properly done to get the desired results which she said was quite an achievements.

Usman thanks EWEI for what it has done and still doing in the lives of the girl-child and women in the state, by covering other activities the ministry could not, noting that government alone can not do all for its citizens.

Assessing the impacts of the project LWL – Basic Life Skills IIII Agenda on the students, Deputy Director, Female Education in Kaduna State Ministry of Education, Aishatu Muhammad, said the programme has been quite impactful.

According to her, the project is not only excellent for the girls, but also very important as it would support them as they continue their educational pursuit, saying academic programmes alone can not ground them in life.

The deputy director commended EWEI for the project, and however called for a scale-up to other schools in order to capture more students in the state.

Speaking on behalf of Principals of the eight schools, Principal of Government Secondary School (GSS) Television, Mrs. Esther Asabe Zakka, appreciated EWEI for the programme which she said  electronically, manually and in other ways have impacted positively on the lives of the young girls.

Zakka, who was represented by one of the Teachers, Mr. Stephen Livinus, said providing Tablets, and other technological devices to the students to aid their studies changed their lives, and attested to the fact that the girls would excel and commended EWEI immensely for it.

Livinus explained that for the duration the teachers were involved in the coordination of the project,  many of the girls have secured admission into tertiary institutions.

“A beneficiary of the project, Firdausi Mathew, is now in Kaduna Polytechnic (KadPoly) studying Banking and Finance. There are so many others who passed out through EWEI’s trainings, who are doing creditably well and are never a disappointment. And from improvement I’m seeing now, all of them are quite promising,” he said.

One of the beneficiaries who spoke on behalf of her colleagues, Blessing Ewa,16, (SS II Commercial), from Government Secondary School, (GSS), Gonin-Gora, said the project LWL has really touched their lives, and personally helped her in so many ways.

“This project is helping our educational pursuit because of the technological devices given to us. Now we study more, it also build us to get more understanding, and many things we never knew, today we have the knowledge of them. We are very grateful to EWEI for empowering us.

“We can now operate our tablets even without supervision. We say thank you EWEI and our sponsors,” Ewa said.

Earlier, giving a brief on the project LWL, EWEI’s Senior Programme Officer, Ms Rachel Ogbonna, said the project aims to reduce the digital divide and gaps in access to virtual learning for adolescent girls in Kaduna state.

She said the project LWL also provides additional opportunities for access to quality, wholesome education in light of pandemic restrictions and limitations of educational curricula.

“LWL enhances the subject matter skills of the adolescent beneficiaries to improve performance in specific subject areas and demonstrate a community inclusive approach to improving access to quality education for girls through the involvement of state and non-state actors.

“The project LWL is an educational opportunity that benefits 50 female students in Kaduna Metropolis. Forty of the beneficiaries were selected from 8 public girls’ secondary schools in Kaduna  North, Igabi, Chikun, and Kaduna South Local Government Areas respectively, in addition to 10 of EWEI’s Educational Subsidy Programme, (ESP), beneficiaries,” Ogbonna added.

The LWL project is supported by the Girls Opportunity Alliance, (GOA), a programme of the Obama Foundation that seeks to empower adolescent girls around the world through education, allowing them to achieve their full potential and transform their families, communities and countries.

EWEI is partnering with the Kaduna State Ministry of Education, Ministry of Environment, Ihifix Innovation Foundation, and Soso Care to actualize the 2-year project, which commenced in 2021.