By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have teamed up in Kenya to encourage girls to return to school and acquire at least basic literacy, after which they get financial and logistics support for economic empowerment.
Nigeria, which has one of the highest school drop out rates in the world, may as well borrow from the idea, although factors vary in both countries that make girls drop out of school.
In Kenya, the main reasons are teenage pregnancy and child marriage. In Nigeria, pupils drop out of school mainly because of poverty, particularly in the North with the practice of Almajiri which encourages child beggars on the street.
The BBC reports that thousands of girls in rural Kenya who have dropped out of school are getting a second chance at education through “catch-up” centres.
These are basic literacy classrooms where out-of-school girls aged between 10 and 19 years can enrol and graduate after six to nine months.
The centres are the brainchild of several NGOs and have been implemented in five out of Kenya’s 47 counties and total 26 countrywide.
Teenage pregnancy, child marriage
They target mostly girls, especially in regions where cases of teenage pregnancy and child marriage are persistent, according to the programme’s project officer, Karanja Mburu.
The literacy lessons run for half a day and allow students, the majority of whom are mothers, to come to school with their babies.
“Being a mother would not allow me to think about going back to school. The creche and the childminders [at the centre] are what have allowed me to study,” one 17-year-old said.
Girls can be reintegrated back into formal education, take apprenticeships or do some certified courses once they graduate. They can also write business proposals “and we provide starter kits for them”, says Mburu.
A 19-year-old apprentice tailor says it has been an empowering experience: “It is because of this education I can now make phone calls and read text messages.”
