By Bashir Bello

KANO — The European Union, in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, have joined forces to initiate a project to ensure a safe and conducive learning environment for pupils and students in Kano State.

The four-year project, titled Education and Youth Empowerment Project in Northern Nigeria, EYEPINN, fully funded by the European Union, aimed to expand access to a safe, inclusive and learning environment.

Speaking during a Train the Trainers workshop for teachers in Kano, under the project, Master Trainer School Safety, Ummi Kaltum Mohammed, said the training had become imperative to address the numerous challenges plaguing the education sector.

Mohammed said the training of the teachers was designed to equip them to cascade the training to their fellow teachers and students on school safety, climate change literacy, and early warning signs.

According to her, “We are training at the state level, they are going to cascade the training down. The goal of the whole training is to ensure that our children are safe in school. They are taught about safety, the officers, the teachers are well equipped with what they need to do to make sure the children are safe in school.

“Yes, we were meant to understand that they did their survey to understand even the number of children in school, the number of children out of school. And at the same time, what are the issues that are plaguing us? At the same time, what are the issues that impede learning, especially in the Nigerian context? And that is why they are able to come up with these major thematic areas, school safety, climate change literacy and early warning signs.

“We are plagued with abuses in different forms and shapes, which affects learners. We are plagued with the issue of impacts of climate change. And if we have it, how do we know what to do? And that is where this last component comes in, early warning signs. This is what you see, and this is what you should do to prevent yourself from any hazard,” Mohammed said.

The state facilitator and overseer of the project, Aisha Abdullahi said about 720 schools, 480,000 learners and 2,000 teachers were expected to benefit from the project being implemented in 10 LGAs under the first phase.

She said the 10 Local Government areas, LGAs, were namely, Nasarawa, Kano Municipal, Dala, Gwale, Sumaila, Gezawa, Dawakin Tofa, Makoda, Tudun Wada and Dambatta.

Earlier, Director Planning, Research and Statistics, DPRS from Kano State Quranic and Islamiyya Schools Management Board, Muhammad Ibn Alhassan said the initiative was timely, especially that the state is bordered by states grappling with insecurity.

He said the initiative was to equip and keep the school children abreast before any unforeseen disaster.

Meanwhile, the project is expected to be implemented in three Northwest states of Kano, Jigawa and Sokoto states.