Nasiru Yusuf Ibrahim

The Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) in Kano has launched twenty learning centres under the second chance component in Gwarzo local government, a game-changer for dropouts and out-of-school adolescent girls and young mothers.

KANO FOCUS reports that the initiative was to provide another opportunity for the beneficiaries to complete their secondary education, equipping them with entrepreneurship and essential life skills for self-reliance and improved living standards.

The event held at Gwarzo Islamic Center witnessed a large turnout of top government functionaries, traditional and religious leaders, parents, learners and all relevant stakeholders in the education sector.

In his remarks, Kano state AGILE coordinator Alhaji Nasiru Abdullahi Kwali explained that the newly introduced Second Chance Education (Sub-Component 2.2c) is resigned to provide another opportunity for dropouts and out-of-school adolescent girls and young mothers to complete their secondary education, in addition to equipping them with entrepreneurship and essential life skills for self-reliance and improved living standards.

He stressed that the mentors and facilitators will be trained in addition to the provision of facilities to enable them acquire the needed knowledge and skills according to global standard.

The state coordinator pointed out that, they were at Gwarzo LGA to inaugurate the second chance learning center through the utilization of Adult Learning Centers spread across communities under the State Agency for Mass Education (SAME).

The AGILE second chance education component 2.2c lead person Hajiya Jamila Ibrahim, revealed that the 800 beneficiaries were mobilised from 10 political wards in Gwarzo local government area.

She said “The federal government approved 20 centers for each state but Gwarzo LGA requested for a center across all the political wards to accommodate it’s teeming populaci.”

She urged young women between the ages of 15-25 to utilize the opportunity to join the second chance education by receiving the expression of interest form to seek consent from their guardians before submitting to the ward head for enrollment.IMG 20241211 WA0253

The chairman Gwarzo local government area Dr. Mani Tsoho described the new second chance education component by AGILE as apt.

He reiterated the LGAs commitment in providing all the necessary support to achieve the desired objectives.

“We will provide more learning centres to accommodate the large population as you can see the Islamic centre is full and many more are coming”

The technical adviser AGILE second Chance 2.2c, Dr Auwal Halilu, pointed out that the component offers the opportunity to young women to acquire knowledge without compromising their day-to-day activities.

“It is organized in such a way that women and young girls can acquire learning at their convenience”

Some of the enrollees for the second chance education in Gwarzo Hafsat Sani Usman, Khadijah Aliyu Sani promised to dedicate themselves to their studies.

This initiative is part of the AGILE Project, a multi-sectoral development project implemented by the Kano State Ministry of Education to address the constraints hindering adolescent girls’ transition, retention, and completion of secondary education.