Kastina: 20, 000 out-of-school children to benefit from UNICEF

The Katsina State Government in partnership with the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) have launched a cash transfer programme to provide learning opportunities for over 20, 000 out-of-school children in the state and improve the socio-economic wellbeing of beneficiaries as well as their household.

Under the scheme, ₦332, 832, 000 would be disbursed to 20,802 out-of-school children (OOSC) and Almajiris in Kafur, Mani and Safana LGAs of the state, through 10, 557 female parents/caregivers to increase school enrolment and attendance rates for boys and girls.

The Guardian learnt that there are currently 536,132 out of school children in Katsina State. Each female parent/caregiver would receive N8, 000 per tranche twice in 2022, amounting to N16, 000 per beneficiary.

Already, 50 Mallams of Tsangaya schools in three LGAs have been trained on safeguarding and keeping children safe from violence and abuse in their facilities.

Speaking at the launch yesterday in Mani, the state governor, Rt. Honourable Aminu Bello Maisari, said the partnership between Katsina State Government and UNICEF has yielded many positive results, not just in the education sector, but also in other sectors of the state.

He said, “We are grateful to UNICEF and the Educate A Child (EAC) project for the funds.”

The Programme Implementation Unit for the cash transfer programme will monitor the programme closely and ensure that the beneficiaries make judicious use of the resources.”

According to a statement from UNICEF, the cash transfer programme would also ensure that beneficiaries are enrolled and retained in any form of organised school, including Integrated Qur’anic Schools (IQS) and provided with literacy and numeracy skills linked to employability and livelihood schemes.

UNICEF noted that the cash transfer programme is being delivered together with the birth registration programme which has so far seen registration of 20, 400 children, adding that social workers would be equipped with required skills to track and reunify children living on the street or similar situations with their families, ensuring family-based care for children.

Also speaking at the launch, UNICEF representative in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins observed that the take-off of the cash transfer programme provides the opportunity to take children off the streets back to the classrooms where every school age child should be and urged the government to continue to build on these interventions to ensure that every school age child is in school and learning.

He said, “We are thankful to our partners, the Educate A Child Project, for funds for the cash transfer programme in Katsina. UNICEF is excited that with this launch. We’ll be addressing the important issues of not just access to education, but quality of learning as we focus on literacy and numeracy skills to build the foundation for employability and livelihood skills.”