Mainstream REACH project into education system, SCI urges Gombe Govt
Save the Children International (SCI) has urged the Gombe state Government to mainstream the CHOICES Curriculum of the ‘Reaching and Empowering Adolescents to make Choices for their Health in Nigeria’ (REACH) Project into the state’s education system.
The call was made by SCI officials when they paid a courtesy visit to the Gombe state Commissioner of Education, Mr Batari Maji Dauda in his office on Thursday.
The call is sequel to the achievements of the project which has been piloted in Dukku and Balanga LGAs of the state for the past three years and is expected to end in August, 2021.
In his remarks, Mr Akpan Effiong, Community Engagement and Advocacy Coordinator for REACH Project, Gombe Field Office said with the positive changes that the project had recorded in the two local government areas, it became imperative for “the curriculum to be mainstreamed into the education system in the state for other children to benefit.”
Effiong said there had been ‘positive’ and ‘remarkable’ changes in the lives of children between 10 and 14 which the CHOICES curriculum supports, because “ the difference is clear as these children are now showing their potentials, having dreams and making informed choices about their health and future.”
“Before now women are to be seen and not heard but with this project, girls in these LGAs are now making informed choices about their health and careers which in the past were decisions made by their parents.”
He stressed that the CHOICES curriculum was key to molding the characters of young ones especially at the age which the curriculum supports, saying if you catch them young and inculcate good morals in them to make them better citizens, the society would be better for us all.”
He appealed to the state government to convene an enlarged stakeholders’ meeting where children who have benefitted from the project would be invited to give their testimonies so that the government would be advised accordingly.
Also, Dr Ifeka Cletus, Adolescent and Sexual Reproductive Health Coordinator, REACH Project, Gombe state told our correspondent that the essence of the visit was to introduce the project to the new commissioner of education as well as advocate for the mainstreaming of the CHOICES curriculum into the education system.
Cletus said the REACH Project had helped children realize who they are while giving the girl-child the opportunity to go to school and finish as against before when girls were relegated educationally.
“ With this project, we are looking at the general development of these children and how they can become good citizens in future; so it’s the totality of the personality that the project is looking at,” he said.
Responding, the Gombe state Commissioner of Education, Mr Batari Maji Dauda commended SCI’s impact in Gombe state and the achievements made so far in Dukku and Balanga LGAs.
Dauda said developing children educationally was one responsibility that parents must prioritise in the interest of the society, adding that with the REACH kind of project, the orientation of our children would be better enhanced for them to achieve their dreams.
“There is no greater joy than developing your children to be better citizens of the society and that’s why the REACH project should be sustained in the interest of children and their wellbeing.’’
While calling for the project to be extended in view of the gains made so far, Dauda urged SCI to collaborate with the government in ensuring a meeting of all stakeholders where the project and its sustainability can be adequately discussed.
The REACH project is being funded by Canadian Government through the Global Affairs Canada and implemented by the Save the Children International (SCI).
Highlight of the event was the presentation of copies of CHOICES Curriculum to the Honourable Commissioner.