Gov. Umaru Bago of Niger on Thursday inaugurated the “Second-Chance” school project by the Universal Basic Education (UBEC) to provide access to basic education for women and girls.
Speaking at the 17th graduation and inauguration of the program at the Maizube Nomadic School, Bago said the project was to give second chance to women and girls to acquire basic education.
Represented by his deputy, Mr Yakubu Garba, Bago said the second chance school would provide opportunity for women and girls to acquire basic education or vocational skills to better their lives and community.
“I commend UBEC for its continued support to growth and development of basic education in the state.
”We will pursue every avenue capable of ensuring qualitative basic education for all school aged children, ”he said.
Bago commended the former head of state, retired Gen. Abdulsalami Abubaka, for leading the provision of free access to education in the state, adding that, the school was complementing government efforts in providing basic education for people.
In his remarks, the former head of state thanked parents for entrusting their children to the school and advised them to continue to enroll their wards.
He said that education was the only legacy to give to their wards.
Abubakar lauded UBEC for the second chance school project and urged the graduands to continue to be good ambassador of the school.
In his address, Malam Kolo Mohammed, Principal of Maizube Nomadic School, disclosed that the school was established in 2002 by former head of state to give back to the society through education.
He said that the nomadic school provides free education for children of the nomads living in Dogon-Ruwa and Sabon-Dagah communities around Maizube farm.
Mohammed said that the school since inception, had graduated 700 nomadic students from primary, junior and senior secondary with 425 pupils currently in the school.
In his Remarks, the Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr Hamid Bobboyi, said the second chance school was constructed to provide learning opportunities for different categories of women.
Bobboyi, represented by Prof. Bala Zakari, Deputy Executive Secretary of UBEC, said the school has facilities for training women in variety of income generating skills to improve their living standards.
Also, the Acting Chairman of the state Universal Basic Education Board (NSUBEB), Dr Fatima Suleiman, said the board would continue to provide basic education for children in the state.
NAN reports that the second chance education program is focused on providing a safe space within the community environment where young women, girls and adult women alike could express themselves through creative activities and develop basic literacy and numeracy skills using contextually-relevant materials.
