Gender responsive education plan and need for reproductive health in Bauchi school curriculum

The failure of Bauchi State to formulate an Education Sector Plan (ESP) is forcing adolescent girls into early uptake of contraception to avoid early pregnancy that may truncate their education. A look at the National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) report of 2023/2024 indicates that 15 per cent of Nigerian girls are involved in teenage pregnancy, while Bauchi State records 17 per cent.

This trend poses a danger to the aspirations of the girl child in Bauchi State. When girls are impregnated indiscriminately, with many others experiencing rape and being forced into marriage, this worsens the number of out-of-school girls.

Why does GRESP matter? It addresses gender disparities in education. It breaks the barriers between individuals and society in terms of economic development and social equality.

GRESP addresses and adapts to the different needs, perspectives, and experiences of both genders. It creates equitable learning environments and outcomes for all students. It is integral to achieving broader social and economic goals and unlocks the full potential of all individuals in more equitable communities.

Failure to develop a gender-responsive ESP, its effective implementation, and funding has been attributed as a contributing factor leading to high dropout rates. The nation accounts for the largest number of out-of-school children, amounting to about 18 million, according to UNICEF. One of the disturbing consequences of dropout is teenage pregnancy, which is one of the cogs in development—particularly among school-age girls in rural communities where efforts are being made to coerce families to release their wards for enrollment.

States, where the education sector plan caters to both genders to actualise their full potential, create a safe space for all categories of learners—including people with special needs.

Most states have adopted the Education Sector Plan (ESP), which gives directions to achieve good enrollment, retention, transition, and completion in school. Although findings show that Bauchi State is yet to produce one, this has negatively affected the sector, as little or no attention is being paid to gender issues in schools—including sexual and reproductive health.

Aspects of GRESP—sexual and reproductive health education, water, sanitation, and hygiene—have received poor attention over the years, discouraging thousands of girls from going to school. This has adversely affected school completion rates. The lack of safe spaces for girls in schools has made them an endangered group. Many of them resort to the bush, where their security threats are heightened. Hundreds of girls and women have been raped, and others have been molested. Every year, the world intensifies advocacy to end violence against girls and women, starting November 25th to December 10th. Bauchi recently announced that 80 people were convicted of sexual and gender-based violence.

For instance, the 2023 report of UNICEF on the Nigeria Education Fact Sheet, citing data from the Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS), puts the primary completion rate in Bauchi at 30 per cent, the lowest, while Anambra recorded 99 per cent. The differences are notable by various background characteristics.

In Bauchi, this completion rate further declined in junior secondary school to 25 per cent, while Anambra dropped to 94 per cent. At the senior secondary level, Bauchi recorded 17 per cent, while Anambra had the highest completion rate of 90 per cent.

Findings showed that thousands of girls in different parts of Bauchi State schools could not afford to buy menstrual hygiene pads, worsened by the lack of access to clean and safe spaces during their monthly periods. The worst issue is the stereotypes against menstruating girls. However, the state provides a few sanitary pads to schools as part of first aid items.

Development partners and community workers have been advocating for a more gender-sensitive education sector plan where adolescents can express their sexual health issues in schools. Sexual and reproductive conversations often hit a brick wall among community leaders, with many non-governmental organizations observing that there is no commensurate acceptability to incorporate the teaching in schools over the fear of obscenity.

However, stakeholders believe that keeping the reality from students who are already exposed to sexual and reproductive health issues is akin to depriving them of their right to know.

Investigations show that adolescent girls have been exposed to contraception, while others have had preventable reasons to leave school or abandon education due to teenage pregnancy with no proper sexual reproductive health education.

Experts note that many traditional parents deliberately withhold sexual reproductive health education from their children, while others do not have the time to teach them.

Speaking during a training session for health workers in Azare, the Executive Director of Better Life Restoration Initiative (BERI), Nkem Ogbonna, explained that girls in rural communities now resort to self-help by inserting different types of contraceptive methods to prevent unwanted pregnancies. According to him, the girls lack access to adequate information on sexual and reproductive health. “Some of these practices pose serious health conditions to them, particularly when they are ready to marry and have children. I have seen some girls in communities with family planning implants. If this is happening at the community level, imagine the situation in urban centres.”

Comfort Attah, the Executive Director of ASHH Foundation, advocated for incorporating sexual and reproductive health education into the school curriculum, assigning a dedicated person among school administrators to train, receive, and address issues around sexual and reproductive health.

Attah emphasized that many parents lack the time or space to talk to their wards at home, hence the need for the government to introduce a policy enabling such teachings in schools. “It is different from Biology. In sexual and reproductive health education, students will learn about body anatomy, and personal and menstrual hygiene.

“There are hormonal changes during the menstrual period. Girls need support and understanding from men. There should be someone these girls can approach for consultation and experience sharing. If the school environment does not support this or the person was not also privileged to learn about sexual and reproductive health as an adolescent, there is no way he or she could be of help.

“We have observed that many people exhibit different behaviours during their menstrual periods; some are moody, while others endure severe pain. When they are taught in school, they will understand how to relate to each other. There should be a revised education curriculum to address these needs. Sexual and reproductive health education should not be left out of our schools.”

Another gender expert and the Executive Director of Alwadata Initiative, Mrs Winifred Yusuf, highlighted the need for a safe corner in schools where adolescent girls can talk to experienced people about their menstrual health. “We have seen cases where girls developed urinary tract infections due to inadequate knowledge of how to handle their menstrual periods.”

According to Yusuf, education administrators and the government, in partnership with non-governmental organizations, could train a teacher per school to serve as a focal person for reproductive health education and menstrual hygiene.

She urged the government to train girls on producing cost-efficient reusable menstrual pads by making raw materials available in the state, noting that it is unsustainable to keep providing pads to all the girls in schools.

“Pads should be part of the entrepreneurial skills acquisition or home economics curriculum taught in schools. We cannot wait for the government to provide this in schools,” she added.

Ministry to Roll Out Education Sector Plan January 2025

The Bauchi State Ministry of Education claimed it adopted the national 10-year education sector plan (ESP), from which it mapped out its three-year Education Sector Operational Plan. The plan, which commenced in 2022, expires in December 2024. Critical analysis of the plan shows it does not reflect gender responsiveness to address the myriad of gender issues in the state.

The Director of Planning, Research, and Statistics, Ministry of Education, Aishatu Ahmad Aminu, noted that there are different education plans, but sexual and reproductive health education is not clearly stated. However, the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE), strictly for girls, includes such provisions.

On the need to include sexual and reproductive health education in the curriculum and assign desk officers in schools to address adolescent girls’ problems, Aishatu stated that there is an existing structure for that in both boarding and senior secondary schools. “Even here in the ministry, especially in senior secondary schools, the junior secondary schools are supposed to have desk officers on paper too, but I’m afraid it is not really applicable there. However, it is functioning in our senior secondary schools.”

She admitted that sexual and reproductive health education is not a subject in the curriculum but noted that there are clubs where such topics are addressed in partnership with some non-governmental organizations. “As we speak, we have pad banks in our schools. SUBEB is also providing pads to schools.”