Educational Subsidy Programme - Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative Nigeria

According to UNICEF:

“Nigeria’s exponential growth in population has put immense pressure on the country’s resources and on already overstretched public services and infrastructure.”

With children under 15 years of age accounting for about 45 per cent of the country’s population, the burden on education and other sectors has become overwhelming. Forty per cent of Nigerian children aged 6-11 do not attend any primary school with the Northern region recording the lowest school attendance rate in the country, particularly for girls.

Despite a significant increase in net enrollment rates in recent years, it is estimated that about 4.7 million children of primary school age are still not in school.”

See UNICEF Information Sheet on Girls’ Education by Nigeria Country Office, September 2007.

See United Nations Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI) Snapshot of Indicators.

See Importance of the Nigerian Girl Child Education, Khadijat Kuburat Lawal, Premium Times, April 2016.

OUR INTERVENTION

Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative (EWEI) launched the Educational Subsidy Programme (ESP) to support girl child education.

ESP provides subsidies and support for fees, uniforms and books to female students in public secondary schools to promote their retention and completion rates in school. In addition, ESP beneficiaries are eligible to benefit from EWEI’s quarterly Empowerment Seminars.

From 2008 to 2020, 30 female students have benefited from EWEI’s ESP and further engagement in a six-month internship with EWEI following the completion of their secondary school education to effectively prepare them for higher education and social entrepreneurship. ESP supports the mandates of several international and local initiatives like SDGs 4 and 5.

PROCESS

Selection: EWEI conducts assessment tests and interviews at targeted public schools.
Home Visits: Potential beneficiaries’ homes are visited to confirm status and obtain parent(s)/guardian(s) consent.
Shortlisting: Internal committee deliberates and recommends shortlisting of beneficiaries.
Shortlist submitted to management for final approval.

CRITERIA

Students must show consistent academic excellence over a period of 6 terms/semesters prior to their consideration for the ESP.
Students’ families must need the support to enable retention and completion for their ward’s education.
Students must commit to the wholesome process including additional capacity development through empowerment seminars
Students must commit to maintaining academic performance which is tracked through monitoring visits, observation forms and school records.

Upon completion of their secondary schools while they await admission into tertiary institutions, ESP beneficiaries also get an opportunity to serve as volunteer interns with EWEI, providing further capacity building and experience in the non-profit development sector.

As of the end of June 2018, two batches of beneficiaries have completed their secondary school and internships with EWEI. Read more about the 13 ESP beneficiaries.

BENEFICIARIES

2010 – 2013

Khadijat Ado:Government Girls Secondary School Doka Kaduna.
Zubaida Ja’afar: Government Girls Secondary School Ungwar Rimi Kaduna and Kaduna Capital School.
Jelilat Abdulkareem: Government Girls Secondary School, Doka Constitution Road, Kaduna.
Bilkisu Gwabin: Government Girls Secondary School Ungwar Rimi Kaduna and Government Girls Secondary School Independence Way Kaduna.
Bilkisu Suleiman: Government Girls Secondary School Doka Kaduna