Nigerian minister seeks gender mainstreaming in new education roadmap
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The Nigerian Minister of State for Education, Yusuf Sununu, has stressed the need for gender mainstreaming to foster a more inclusive and balanced education sector in the country.
Mr Sununu said this on Thursday in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) at a one-day national stakeholders’ workshops on the development of a roadmap for the nation’s education sector.
The minister said achieving gender mainstreaming in the education sector will significantly address the growing concern for the nation’s development. He highlighted the urgent need for revitalising education in Nigeria.
He said: “It is also important that we recognise the need for gender mainstreaming in the roadmap that would result from our interaction so that Nigeria would have the benefit of a balanced education system.”
Education roadmap
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported the setting up and inauguration of an eight-man committee by the substantive education minister, Tahir Mamman, a professor, to develop a roadmap for the country’s education sector to address the identified challenges.
In his address at the forum, Mr Sununu said the importance of education for development in Nigeria is widely acknowledged, but that the recognition has not translated into tangible results that demonstrate that educated individuals have a better chance of living fulfilled lives.
He highlighted the challenges faced by the Nigerian youth and how these challenges are interconnected with the future of education in the country.
The minister of state said: “The disconnect between purpose and reality could be responsible for inadequate attention to the sector and wrong perceptions of the relative importance of the different forms and types of education.
“The inability of the youths to gain employment after going through the rigours of academics may be responsible for a gradually building disinterest in the pursuit of education”.
The Nigerian government had announced that there are set deliverables for each of the ministries, departments and agencies of the government to meet with key performance indicators to be used for their assessments beginning from 2024.
Speaking on the expectations of his ministry, Mr Sununu said the roadmap is equally pertinent, noting that it must align with the 23 deliverables assigned to the education ministry in the eight-point agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
He said the roadmap is important because of “the deliverables form in the Ministerial Performance Bond, which will be signed by the ministers and the Permanent Secretary in a retreat coming up in few weeks.”
Mr Sununu commended the support of the development partners, adding that “we would be counting on more of such support in these times.”
