Stakeholders have called for collective efforts at addressing gender inequality in the education sector.
They made the call at the Oyo School Girls General Assembly, OYSGA, organised by a non governmental organisation, Mentoring Assistance for Youth and Entrepreneurs Initiative, MAYEIN, in commemoration of the international girl child day.
It was the gathering of students, policy makers and other key stakeholders on promoting girl child education.
The programme had representatives from Ten Public Secondary Schools as participants and Six from Private Secondary Schools as observers, all from Oyo State.
Participating schools were Samuel Adegbite, Community High School Ajara, St. Louis, Poly High School, Humani Alaga, Oba Akinbiyi, Community Secondary School, Ojoo High School, Mount Olivet and Bishop Onabanjo.
While Ibadan International School, Ijokodo High school Abiodun Metropolitan, Valencia college and The Vale College were observers.
OYSGA which was in two parts, had an approach of in-depth capacity building for 100 schoolgirls, followed by a General Assembly where 10 schoolgirls delegates chronicled challenges faced in their schools.
Some of challenges highlighted included inadequate toilet facilities, non functioning library, non-availability of computer systems, non availability of qualified counsellors and lack of extra curricular activities amongst others.
Three of the students in separate interviews said the programme was educative and appreciated the organizers.
Miss Eniola Ajani- “the programme is enlightening and entertaining. I love when the guest speaker said inclusion of boys into the girl child advocacy.” she urged the boys to support the girls in achieving their dreams”.
Master Taiwo Temidayo- “I learnt that girls are great, boys should not discriminate them and also that girls can be great too”.
Miss Eniola Adeyemo- “I learnt that girls can achieve their goals.” Boys should support girls, not look down on them and their parents should be good role models to them””
Commenting, The Executive Director of the organisation, Mrs Ewa Orowale noted that the event also served as the closing session of the school project tagged “Girls in Education Dialogues”.
“It is a project for school girls to know their rights and exercise their agency in education decision making which ensures inclusive and qualitative education for all”.
Policy makers in attendance included 2 House of Assembly members representing Ibadan North I and Ibadan North East, Ministry of Education and Women Affairs officials, lawmakers, community leaders and religious leaders, parents, teachers and other key stakeholders in education to discuss the needs and challenges of schoolgirls in the state.
Resolutions drawn from the Assembly were presented as a policy document to the Oyo State Government and other stakeholders to enable them to address the issues raised by the schoolgirls.
The keynote address was delivered by Professor Omolara Campbell, the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Leadcity University while the Presiding Chairperson of the General Assembly was Olori Adelayo Oriekun, a seasoned lawyer and the Alternate Chairperson of the NBA Women’s Forum, who represented the Nigeria Bar Association, Oyo State Chapter.
To open the Plenary session, a formal address was delivered by Justice Adenike Adeeyo, Head of Oyo State Family Court representing the Chief Justice of Oyo State.
MAYEIN launched its Girls in Education Dialogues project in 2022 after a noticeable gap in access and inclusion in education policies in Oyo State.
The organization urged the state government, community leaders, parents and other NGOs to adopt a joint stakeholder approach in lending their voices to girls education and development.
The theme for 2025 International Day of the girl child is ‘The Girl I am, The Change I Lead, Girls on the frontlines of crisis”.
Highlights of the event was presentation of certificate to participants, schools and group photographs.