The United Nations Children Fund, UNICEF, has trained one hundred girls in Kebbi State to mark this year’s International Day for Girl-child.
Yesterday Monday, October 11 was the day set aside to celebrate the girl-child, across the world on gender sensitivity/
This year’s day began with a procession in Birnin Kebbi with schools drawn from some selected local governments in the state.
According to the state project coordinator, Alhaji Isah Usman, who spoke at the interactive session with schoolgirls in Birnin Kebbi, the essence of the day is to enlighten the girl-child on issues bordering on how they interact with their male colleagues and the need for them to go school.
He further said that the programme aims to build confidence in the girl-child that they can become anything in society.
He added that they can become doctors, engineers and governors provided they believe in themselves and what they are doing.
“Why UNICEF is particular about the girl-child is because they are the bedrock of the society. They, therefore, need assistance to achieve their chosen careers,” he added.
Isah explained that as part of efforts by UNICEF to really assist the girl-child, 100 girls from Kebbi State were trained on gender sensitivity.
A message was sent to their parents in the form of enlightenment for them to enrol the girl-child to school in order to reduce the number of out-of-school children, particularly the girl-child in Kebbi.
Usman stated that days before the main event, as part of activities that were lined up by UNICEF in collaboration with Kebbi State Universal Basic Education, organised cultural activities where girls were drawn from different schools and different tribes to display their divergent cultures.
In continuation of the day programme, the project coordinator said that already some girls have been selected to visit the Commissioner for Education Kebbi State and other places selected for the girls to visit.
