In Warji local government, the trio of poverty, culture and government negligence have teamed up to deprive young ambitious girls of opportunity for a quality education that can aid actualizing their dreams.
About 120km away from the Bauchi city, a 15-year-old Maimuna Hassan, lives with her parent in Katanga, the headquarters of Warji LGA full of a dream: to be a nurse. Each day, she walks to a school, Government Junior Secondary School (GJSS), Tudun Alheri.
Maimuna faces more than just the struggles of paying attention in class. Her classroom is overcrowded, her teachers don’t fully understand the unique struggles girls like her face, and her school lacks even the most basic resources needed for a conducive learning environment.
At home, due to abject poverty, her parents believe that farm work is more important than her education because of the swift benefits the family drives from her work, leaving Maimuna torn between her big dreams of hoping to help her society through healthcare services and a reality that keeps pulling her back.
Like Maimuna, her 14-year-old classmate of JSS 3, Fatima Ibrahim faces similar frustrations. “I want to learn, but my family says there’s no point,” she said. “They think I should just help at home.”
Due to their poor background, many girls like Maimuna and Fatima face the same fate that in many instances lead to giving up their education and help their families navigate life’s struggles eke out a living through farmwork, hawking or any petty activity that supports the family financially to survive the pang of poverty.
But despite seeming insurmountable challenge, Fatima holds on to a fragile hope. “I dream of being Warji’s first female pilot,” she said, her eyes lighting up briefly before fading. “But every time I try to study, I remember that my brother goes to school daily while I alternate between going to school and staying back to help my mother, because that I can’t even read or write.”
The Girl-Child Education Crisis
“We’re watching these girls fall behind,” says Malama Hauwa Hashimu, a teacher at GJSS Tuya. In a soft tone filled with sadness, she added “It breaks my heart when I come to class and see only a few girls or sometimes none at all.” She gestured to an empty classroom, without a desk. “Look at this room. Where are the girls who want to learn?”
During planting and harvest seasons, girls stay home to help with farm work. Many parents, when asked, often argue, “If we send our girls to school, who will help us on the farm to earn money or get food for the family?” Malama Hauwa pauses, worry etched on her face. “These girls are bright and eager, but their lives are filled with obstacles. Each day they miss school, they lose a part of their future. When a girl misses school for weeks, she loses her place. So many topics are covered before she returns, that it’s hard for her to catch up. It affects her learning and confidence, and soon, school becomes more of a struggle than a hope.”
The Infrastructure Gap
Most Warji’s schools struggle to provide even the simplest needs for all students but especially female students. Inside classrooms with broken desks and faded chalkboards, girls sit quietly, some barely able to write their own names. “Many of these girls can’t recite the alphabet or count to 100,” a teacher explained.
The lack of basic facilities, like separate bathrooms, adds to their discomfort. Without these essentials, many girls feel out of place and discouraged in many instances. Zakari Hashimu, GJSS, Tudun Alheri, explains, “These classrooms weren’t made with girls in mind. They don’t have private spaces or basic amenities to make them feel comfortable.”
When girls have their monthly periods, many stay home for a week or more, embarrassed to attend school without proper facilities. “They start to feel that school isn’t meant for them,” Zakari said with a sad tone, adding “Over time, they lose interest and stop coming.”
Fading Hopes, Dreams Shattered?
In Warji, without a gender-responsive education plan, girls are slowly letting go of their dreams. A principal, Abdullahi Hassan, has watched this happen over the years. “In my school of over 400 students, we haven’t had proper seats since our 2019 renovation. Students sit on stones. And as for toilets, we have none.”
According to Hassan, after series of complaints to the ministry of education seeking for intervention, no positive response ever comes. He explained “Many parents, weary of seeing no real change in their daughters’ lives, have started giving up on education for their girls. Because of poverty, they often encourage their daughters to get married early or keep them at home to help with chores, feeling this may be a more practical way to ease their family’s struggles. They would say, ‘What’s the use of sending our girls to school if nothing improves?’” Abdullahi explained, visibly frustrated. “By the time girls finish junior secondary school, many just drop out.”
This is a situation that resonates with many girls in Warji bottled up with their dream and potentials unexplored.
Worrying Statistics
A recent report by UNICEF, titled “Education Opportunity for Girls,” paints a troubling picture for Nigeria’s female students. It shows that a staggering 7.6 million girls are out of school across the country. Out of this number, 3.9 million girls have left at the primary level, while another 3.7 million are out of school at the junior secondary level.
In northern Nigeria, Bauchi State stands out with some of the worst statistics. The 2021 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) reveals that Bauchi has the highest percentage of out-of-school children in the Northeast, with 61% of school-aged children not attending school, according to UNICEF.
WikkiTimes field research corroborated the UNICEF data on school dropout rates among girls in Warji, revealing worrying trend.
Data from Junior Secondary Schools
Data from the schools reveal drastic decline in school enrolment and many students especially girl-child do not even complete junior secondary schools.
According to the data, 250 students enrolled in JSS 1 in comprising 135 boys and 115 girls in 2022 in Government Junior Secondary School, Tudun Alheri. However, by 2024, 50 students did not make it to JSS3, leaving 200 students with 105 boys and 95 girls.
In another school, GJSS, Tuya, 50 students, 30 boys and 20 girls, were registered into JSS1 in 2022. By 2024, in JSS3, there were only 15 students consisting of 8 boys and 7 girls.
GDSS, Katanga, Warji, presented an alarming figure for the girl-child drop out. 35 girls could not make it to JSS 3 as at 2024 whereas only two boys failed to make it to JSS3. The data indicates that out of 85 girls enrolled into JSS1 in 2022, only 50 made to JSS3 in 2024. For the boys, however, 98 out of 100 made to JSS 3, making the total of current JSS 3 students to 148 out of 185 students registered in 2022.
Data from Senior Secondary Schools
The data from senior secondary schools shows similarly high number of drop out with the girls having the higher percentage.
In GDSS, Baima, there was a total of 81 students with boys having 51 and girls 30 registered into SS 1 in 2022. However, only 47 students (32 boys, 15 girls) continued to SS 3 in 2024.
The situation is not better at the Government Day Secondary School, Katanga. In 2022, SS1 had a total of 191 students with 134 males and 57 females.
Currently, the school has a total of 142 students (93 males, 49 females) in its SS3 enrollment.
Cultural Beliefs, Gender-Blind and Exclusion
The challenges go beyond just what happens in the classroom. Many parents believe a girl’s place is in the home, hawking or on the farm, not in school. According to some observers, many parents think education is unnecessary for girls and prefer the short-term income from farming over the long-term benefits of education.
Additionally, schools in Warji do not have separate restrooms, materials that support girls, or activities to engage them. For girls like Maimuna and Fatima, this lack of support makes them feel unwelcome, which often leads to inconsistency in attendance or even outright dropping out.
“Each year, more girls leave school,” said Warji’s district head, Alhaji Ibrahim Samaila. “Families don’t see the importance of education, especially because schools don’t address girls’ needs.”
Alhaji Samaila also said he has tried to monitor schools in Warji, and whenever evaluations happen, the response is positive. But the local government council has stopped funding the monitoring efforts which forced him to stop, saying “we can’t fix Warji’s education problems alone. I am asking the state government to help us.”
Skewed Teacher Recruitment
Another obstacle for girls in Warji is the gender imbalance in teacher recruitment. Data from six government schools shows that out of a total of 75 teachers, only 20 are female. Male teachers are often assigned to mixed-gender classrooms, creating an environment that can be uncomfortable for female students.
“Girls in Warji need role models,” said Hosea Bako, chairman of the School-Based Management Committee (SBMC) at GJSS Tudun Alheri. “When they don’t see female teachers, it reinforces the belief that education isn’t meant for them.” The lack of female educators thus contributes to the sense that education may not be a space where girls belong.
Hosea Bako also noted that the absence of social and extracurricular activities designed for girls further intensifies the issue. Current school programs lack initiatives that support girls’ interests, self-esteem, and social skills.
“We need to create spaces where girls can interact, learn, and grow outside of the classroom,” he said. “Social activities help build confidence and a sense of belonging.
The SDGs acknowledges that empowering girls through education is essential for sustainable development. Achieving SDG 4 on quality education and SDG 5 on gender equality is crucial for communities like Warji to thrive.
The LGEA Response
Muhammad Musa, the Acting Education Secretary in Warji, admitted the challenges but said they are doing their best.
“We are doing our part,” Musa stated. “We are reaching out to community leaders and village heads, encouraging them to support children returning to school. We have also forwarded all school-related complaints in Warji to SUBEB. Yet, we continue to appeal to the state government to address our concerns.”
The Absence of an Education Sector Plan
Bauchi currently operates without an Education Sector Plan (ESP). What the state is using is a State Education Strategic Operational Plan (SESOP) 2022–2024, which does not cover gender disparities and overlooks the unique girls’ challenges in areas like Warji.
According to the UN Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI), the ESP is a comprehensive document that offers a vision for the schooling system and identifies the ways to achieve it, and gender-responsive education sector planning (GRESP) is the vehicle for achieving this as it identifies gender barriers within education systems and ensures that strategies and policies are in place to address them.
In an interview, Mohammed Abdullahi, the Public Relations Officer for the Bauchi State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), acknowledged that while the operational plan doesn’t specifically address gender, the state government has implemented projects aimed at promoting girls’ education. According to him, initiatives like the Girls’ Group (G-G) seek to sensitize girls on returning to school, and programmes focusing on girls’ educational advancement are active across the state.
Abdullahi said government is working to build schools, renovate, and provide learning materials across the state.
He, however, added that the board is not aware of all the challenges of schools in Warji.
He explained that SUBEB involves traditional leaders in monitoring schools to ensure accountability and community engagement in supporting local education.
GRESP as Support to Addressing Barriers
In an interview, John Andah, the Executive Director of ImpactHouse Centre for Development Communication, explained that, to address the endemic issues in the education sector, Bauchi needs to develop a gender-responsive plan.
“We are advocating for the development …of a gender-responsive education sector plan. This plan would allow the issues of boys and girls to be put into consideration in clear terms. An education sector plan that is gender responsive will have actions that are targeted at addressing girls’ and boys’ issues in schools”, he said.
This report was published with collaborative support from Impact House Centre for Development Communication and System Strategy and Policy Lab (SSPL).
