No fewer than 42,781 girls have been returned to school by the Katsina government, through the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment.

Mustapha Shehu, the AGILE coordinator in Katsina, disclosed this at a one-day community sensitisation campaign in Katsina on Tuesday.

The campaign has as a theme ‘Strengthening Community Support for Girls’ Education through Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT)’.

Mr. Shehu noted that the success was recorded over about five years, since the project commenced in Katsina.

He added that, within the period, through the first, second, and third cohorts, the project had improved the economic status of approximately 115,568 households.

He revealed that disbursement of support to no fewer than 48,000 parents and 43,000 girls through scholarship had commenced in cohort four of the project.

According to the coordinator, the aim of the meeting is to sensitise the public to learn more about the CCT component of the project, its conditions, and challenges.

He added that there were currently more than 2,900 ATM cards registered for CCT support, revealing that people had failed to collect them because they were not the intended beneficiaries.

Mr Shehu explained that AGILE was introduced in Katsina following a survey conducted in 2019 and 2020, which revealed that 53 per cent of primary school pupils don’t transition to junior secondary school.

He added that the survey showed that 43 per cent do not transition from junior to senior secondary school, and the majority of them were girls.

The CCT coordinator of the project, Kubrah Muhammad, stated that the World Bank-assisted project aimed to enhance secondary education opportunities for adolescent girls in target states.

According to her, the project aims to increase girls’ enrollment, retention, and completion rates in secondary education, while also empowering them with essential life skills.

She added that the key aspects of the project were improving school infrastructure, renovating classrooms, and providing safe learning spaces.

Muhammad also stated that the project offers financial support, providing scholarships and CCTs to eligible girls and their families.