By Lydia Ngwakwe
Lagos – The Centre for Children’s Health Education, Orientation and Protection (CEE-HOPE), an NGO, has called on the three tiers of government to make education accessible to poor children living in rural areas, especially girls.
Mrs Betty Abah, Executive Director of CEE-HOPE, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos.
According to her, the world is fast advancing and we can’t afford to leave women behind.
“When we leave out women from learning critical and transformative skills like Information Communication Technology (ICT), we are as good as limping on one foot.
“Gender equality in education, job as well as areas such as ICT, starting from young ages, is a good deal for everyone.
“Governments must go beyond lip service and ensure practical steps to close these yawning gaps,” Abah said.
The women and children’s rights activist said majority of children from poor background had never seen or touch computers at close proximity before.
“This was what we experienced in 2017 when we established an initiative “Girls Take Tech” alongside an ICT Centre.
“We observed during our training for about 100 children, both boys and girls in Makoko community in Lagos, that for most of them it was their first time seeing computer, the excitement knew no bound,” she said.
She said for some of the girls, who typically had issues with being allowed to access education in such locations, it was double jeopardy for them.
She urged government to go beyond lip service and ensure practical steps were taken to make up for the lapses and close these yawning gaps.
She also advised government to look into areas it made mistakes and find a way to meet up in terms of policy initiatives and practical enrollment of girls in related fields and skills.
Abah, therefore, advocated individual and government support to reach out to more girls from underprivileged backgrounds in other parts of the country, adding that it’s been hectic for her organisation with limited support.
