The Nasarawa State Government in collaboration with Education As A Vaccine (EVA), Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) have launched a School Related Safeguarding Policy to protect the girl-child against school related gender based violence.
Speaking at the launch on Tuesday in Lafia, Mr John Mamman, Commissioner for Education said the contribution of EVA toward the policy was a major boost toward making the school environment safe for children especially the girl-child.
The commissioner represented by Mr Tsaku Angbashim, Director, Administration and Supplies at the ministry, said that Gov. Abdullahi Sule’s-led administration always welcome the contributions of partners towards educational advancement.
He added that education is not a one man business and the government alone cannot do it all, except they collaborate with partners interested in the development of the state and the country.
The Education Commissioner further said that the administration of Sule had always given topmost priority to education which was why it always have the highest allocation in the budget of the state in the last five years.
Mamman added that the government through the ministry was working with a lot of other partners intervening in different areas to improve the standard of education and make the schools safe for staff and students.
The commissioner unveiled the document and promised to ensure adherence to the policy by all schools in the state.
He therefore said that violators of the policy who infringed on the rights of students as a result of their gender would be dealt with according to the law.
Earlier, Grace Gara, leader of the implementing partner of the GNO said the policy was aimed at having a safe school environment for students especially the girl-child.
She explained that the organisation would complement the effort of the government toward ensuring that the girl-child have a school environment where she can learn, grow and reach full potential.
“We know that gender based violence has affected the education of many girls especially their retention in school.
“The policy had developed a procedure within the school system to be followed in addressing cases of suspected and actual gender based violence.
“It also strengthened the coordination among the relevant institutions on the prevention and response to school related gender based violence,” she added.
In his goodwill message, Hamza Laminu-Maina, Nasarawa State Secretary of Parent’s Teacher’s Association (PTA) expressed gratitude to the state government and the NGO for launching a policy document to protect their children in schools.
He explained that as parents today they were indeed happy that deliberate efforts are being made to protect their children and promised to support the policy to succeed.
In an interview with newsmen, Jessica Kumator, students of Government Secondary School Bikansidi Lafia said the policy had brought a big relief to female students in the state.
She therefore appreciated the state government and their partners for coming up with the document and appealed for it’s full implementation. (NAN).
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