By Sani Idris

The Centre for Girls Education (CGE), has trained no fewer than 413 Senior Secondary School female teachers across the 23 LGAs in Kaduna state to be mentors in the “Safe Space” initiative for adolescent girls.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the “Safe Space” initiative in schools, is under the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project.

The Safe Space provides adolescent girls with life skills, mentorship, and support to boost their education and confidence.

Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the sideline of the second day of the three-day training on Thursday in Kaduna, Mrs
Maryam Albashir, Deputy Director at the CGE, said the centre is focusing on life skills component of the AGILE project.

Albashir added the the centre, in collaboration with 184 principals across the 23 LGAs were conducting the training, which would serve as a demonstration process for other ministries and agencies responsible for teachers training to see how the mentorship training is done.

Doing so, she said the ministries and agencies could mainstream it into their own organisations so as to enable every teacher in Kaduna state acquire the life skills training to deploy back to the secondary schools.

Speaking further, Albashir believed that the training could not be done only by the CGE or the Kaduna State government, but could in collaboration with other funding organisations or development partners pushed forward for the benefit of adolescent girls who are most vulnerable in the society.

Also, Hajiya Hauwa Usman, the Coordinating Desk Officer of Lere, Soba and Kubau LAGs at the Quality Assurance Department, Kaduna State Ministry of Education, lauded the
CGE for taking proactive steps to empower adolescent girls in Kaduna State.

Usman noted that the”Safe Space” initiative is a laudable effort that aligned with the Quality Assurance department’s goal of ensuring quality education for all students.

“I commend the CGE for its efforts in promoting girl child education in Kaduna State and look forward to seeing the positive changes that this initiative will bring. As we move forward, it is essential that we continue to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of this initiative to ensure that it meets its intended objectives,”she said.

Also speaking to newsmen at the opening of the training on Wednesday, February 12, 2025, Dr. Zainab Shuaibu, a Board Member with the CGE, emphasised that safe space for adolescent girls were important because it enable them feel free to communicate with their mentors outside the classroom settings.

Shuaibu, who also oversee the National Center for Strengthening Mathematics and Science Education at the
National Teachers Institute, Kaduna, explained that the classroom is a restricted setting that allocate specific period and time for every subject.

“Most teachers complain of not having enough time to teach due to the tightness of the curriculum and all the activities that are loaded in the curriculum.

“This is why the safe space initiative is being created so that girls will feel free with their mentors.

“Their mentors have been trained on how to make them feel free while bringing in some difficult concepts in their classroom and relating it to what will happen to the girls.

“The mentors are going to be trained today on some of the strategies they will use in bringing the girls out to confine in them and be able to say some of the issues or challenges they are facing,”she said.

According to her, the safe space would improve the girls’ child education because they know that their voice are being heard.

Shuaibu lamented that most parents at home may not have time to discuss deeply with the girls, thereby making it difficult to voice out some of the challenges they are facing in the classroom or in their personal life.

She therefore said the safe space would empower the girls to move beyond what is expected in the classroom.

“It is a kind of additional curricular activity in the schools system. it is not easy because changing mindset is usually difficult and that is why we start training the mentors from the simple concept to the difficult concept of mentorship,”she said.

She urged the mentors to portray good attitude, emphasising that one can not have negative attitude and also try to change the attitude of another person positively.

Also, Aishatu Muhammad, the Deputy Director of Female Education, Kaduna State Ministry of Education, said, since the training involves teachers, principals were also key because they are the ones to oversee the program within the school level.

She disclosed that the training is not the first of its kind, but being scaled up to included more schools apart from the existing ones that are benefiting from the program

She stated that it is not all the states in Nigeria that benefit from AGILE project, where Kaduna, happened to be among the selected states due to the concern by the state government on girl child education.

Muhammad commended the CGE for its efforts in promoting girl child education in Kaduna State, emphasising that the state government is committed to supporting initiatives that improve education outcomes for girls.

“The is a critical step towards creating a supportive environment for adolescent girls in public schools, enabling them to overcome challenges and achieve their full potential,”she said.

Nuradeen Ibrahim, Monitoring and Evaluation Assistant with the CGE, said the life skill component of the AGILE project would take the girls through 46 sessions of a safe space manual.

Ibrahim said the girls would be meeting at least twice weekly, where each contact would last for about an hour after school hours.

He explained that the sessions would be led by a female teacher who would serve as their mentor and guide.

“The program would take the girls through 46 sessions of the life skill manual. Also, the project is extending in some selected school to pilot the boy’s safe spaces, the sessions are to be facilitated by male mentors across the schools after which the project plans to cascade to more schools and reach more boys.

“The pilot for the boys would focus on five Gender Based Violence related sessions to be facilitated by a male mentor within the school,”he said

One of the earlier trained mentor an facilitator at the training, Aishatu Aminu, a public school teacher at Anguwan Sarkin Kogi Hayin Ojo, said she had seen firsthand the impact of the safe space initiative on adolescent girls.

Aminu said the training empowered her to create a supportive environment where girls feel comfortable sharing their challenges and concerns.

“I have witnessed girls become more confident and outspoken, and i am excited to see the ripple effect of this initiative in our community.

“With the scaling up of the programme, i am eager to support and mentor more teachers, ensuring that every girl in Kaduna State has access to a safe and supportive learning environment”,she said.

NAN reports that the training was a collaboration between the CGE and the State Project Implementing Unit (Kaduna AGILE), through the ministry of education.

Present at the engagement included representatives from National Teachers Institute, Kaduna State Quality Assurance Agency, policy Innovation Center and School principals of senior secondary schools from the 23 LGAs of Kaduna state.(NAN)