By Najib Sani
The Kaduna State Government will incorporate life skills and other key gender policies into its education curriculum and budget, with a view to improving girls’ education and productivity.
The State Commissioner for Education, Professor Abubakar Sani Sambo, disclosed this at a high-level validation workshop convened by the Kaduna State Ministry of Education, with support from the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) in Kaduna State.
The workshop brought together policymakers, development partners, and civil society actors to review draft policies on Gender in Education and Life Skills.
He said the initiative, particularly the integration of life skills into the education curriculum, would empower girls economically beyond the classroom, enabling them to engage in viable economic activities.
According to him, the Gender in Education Policy is expected to tackle structural barriers such as safety, access, and retention, which disproportionately affect girls, while the Life Skills Framework introduces competencies that enable young people to navigate real-life challenges.
“This reform is a direct investment in reducing early marriage, improving retention, and strengthening the future of our young people,” the commissioner said.
Also speaking, the State Project Coordinator of AGILE, Maryam Dangaji, said the reform would address deeper social challenges affecting adolescents, particularly girls.
She pointed out that Kaduna, like other northern states, continues to grapple with issues such as early marriage, school dropout, and gender-based violence, noting that these challenges cannot be separated from education outcomes.
In her remarks, the Executive Director of the Centre for Girls’ Education, Habiba Mohammed, said the initiative would transform isolated interventions into a system that works for every girl.
She noted that the centre has been at the forefront of supporting the process of institutionalising life skills education in Kaduna State.
She added that the initiative involves incorporating life skills into school timetables, training teachers to deliver the curriculum, and embedding monitoring indicators within existing quality assurance systems.
Other participants at the workshop highlighted that the level of political engagement is a critical factor in the reform’s success.
They called for the finalisation and adoption of the policy frameworks, the securing of budget allocations, teacher training, and the establishment of monitoring systems to ensure the policies are effective and efficient.
