The Women Child Youth Health and Education Initiative (WCY), with support from the Malala Education Champion Network, has unveiled a new intervention aimed at enrolling adolescent mothers back into school across Bauchi State.
Speaking at a one-day planning and inception meeting with education stakeholders on Wednesday, the Executive Director of WCY, Rashida Mukaddas, said the Adolescent Mothers Education Access (AMEA) project would run for three years and be implemented in three local government areas—Bauchi, Misau and Katagum.
Mukaddas said the initiative seeks to break long-standing barriers preventing married girls, pregnant adolescents and young mothers from continuing their education.
“Today marks an important step in our collective commitment to ensuring that every girl in Bauchi State—especially an adolescent who is married, pregnant or already a young mother—has the right, opportunity and support to continue and complete her education,” she said.
According to her, the project aims to tackle “real and persistent” socio-cultural and economic obstacles that have forced many adolescent mothers out of school.
“This is about creating an enabling environment that safeguards girls’ rights to education while removing the obstacles that push them out. The success of this project rests on the strength of our collaboration and the commitments we build together,” Mukaddas added.
The organisation plans to work closely with ministries, traditional institutions and civil society groups to drive advocacy for improved girl-child education in the state.
WCY Project Officer, Kamal Bello, said early marriage remains one of the biggest threats to girls’ access to education in Bauchi.
“Early marriage is a major factor hindering girls’ education. Through this collaboration, we hope to strengthen enforcement of the Child Rights Law and ensure that girls who dropped out due to marriage are re-enrolled and retained in school,” Bello said.
He added that stakeholders’ support would help ensure “a Bauchi State where no girl is left behind because of marriage, pregnancy or motherhood.”
Representatives from the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Justice, Budget and Economic Planning, International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), AGILE project, Bauchi Agency for Mass Education, civil society groups, as well as religious and traditional leaders attended the meeting.
They all pledged to support the AMEA project to guarantee its full implementation and achieve its set goals.
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