As part of efforts    to improve innovation and practice in secondary education in Nigeria,The Education Partnership Centre (TEP Centre) and Results for Development Institute (R4D) held its first convening of stakeholders in the secondary education space under the auspices of the Partnership to Strengthen Innovation and Practice in Secondary Education (PSISPE), addressing the challenges of the girl child and marginalised youths.

In her paper titled “Addressing the challenges facing access to quality secondary education for girls and marginalised youth” Keynote Speaker/Team Leader, Human Development at DfID Nigeria, Ms. Kemi Williams, said that the solution to removing barriers requires a comprehensive understanding of how these barriers interrelate and a holistic approach to addressing them.

The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, Dr. MacJohn Nwaobiala, emphasized that education is a collective responsibility. “Approaches which strengthen government and private sector collaboration can help improve the education system system,” he said.

On her part, Dr. Modupe Adefeso-Olateju, Managing Director of TEP Centre, added that well-designed and strategic public-private partnerships can address challenges which affect access, quality and equity in the Nigerian education.

However, PSIPSE is a funder collaborative that seeks to increase secondary education access and improve learning outcomes especially for girls and marginalized populations and aims to accelerate innovation in secondary education programming, research, and development in selected countries.