BY SUSAN EDEH
Bauchi- Bauchi State is to pay a monthly grant of N5,000 to each for the 9,874 school girls in six pilot local governments in the next three years as a way of encouraging female enrolment in scools, the Executive Chairman of the Bauchi State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, Alhaji Abdullahi Dabo has said.

This comes under the ‘’Conditional Cash Transfer, CCT, Programme’’ of the state.

Dabo made this known during the official flag off of the CCT programme in Lago village of Darazo Local Government Area of the state yesterday, adding that ‘’263 rural  primary schools were identified for the project which will initially cover the six local government areas of Giade , Darazo, Dass, Kirfi, Dambam and Zaki.’’

According to him, about 16,500 families were targeted and registered in April 2010 for the programme, while no fewer than 9,874 girls from 5,995 families would benefit from the payment, after fulfilling all the necessary requirements”.

Dabo further explained that the CCT programme was initiated to consolidate the successes recorded in the state’s girl-child education project, in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, between Bauchi State government and Millennium Development Goals, MDGs.

The Chairman pointed out that the programme was aimed at encouraging their female children not only to enrol in schools but to allow them complete their secondary school education without withdrawing them for marriage as was the praciice before.

Also speaking during the ceremony, the Chairman of Darazo Local Government Council, Alhaji Mohammad Lago expressed his appreciation to the SUBEB for initiating the project, which according to him would encourage parents to send their female children to schools to acquire knowledge, rather than hawking and or early marriage, adding that his council would complement the efforts of the state government in that regard.

The Consultant on the CCT, Miss Chantal Elmont from UNICEFF, told newsmen that “the programme is worldwide’’ pointing out that the responsibility of the state government was to provide funds for the benefiting school girls, while ‘’on our part, we will provide technical assistance to facilitate the programme and guide both the government and the parents of the beneficiaries to make judicious usage of the opportunity”

One of the parents of the beneficiaries, Hajara Tijjani Lago who spoke on the issue said “this gesture will go a long way, to meet the immediate needs of the girl child, like purchase of school uniform, sandals, books among others’’ adding that ‘’these were some of things that prevent us from sending our girls to school”.