When 15-year-old Zainab from Gwoza was forced to drop out of school, it wasn’t due to her lack of ambition.
“I wanted to become a nurse,” she said quietly, but her dreams were put on hold when her family, displaced by insurgency, resettled in an IDP camp that lacked a functioning school.
“There was no school nearby, no teachers, nothing,” she added.
Like many girls in Borno state, Zainab’s access to education has been cut off, not by her will, but by circumstance beyond her control.
Her story is not an isolated one as thousands of girls of her age across the state continue to face multiple barriers to education, from displacement and insecurity to poverty and cultural constraints.
How effective are state interventions?
While interventions like the World Bank-supported AGILE (Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment) have made significant strides in urban centres like Maiduguri, the deeper question remains: how is Borno tracking the outcomes of these interventions, particularly those meant to advance gender equity?
Borno State Education Sector Strategic Plan (SESP) 2021–2030 was designed to rebuild the state’s education system following years of conflict. It includes key objectives such as improving access, teachers training, infrastructure and learning outcomes; however, the SESP lacks a fully integrated Gender-Responsive Education Sector Planning (GRESP) framework, something critical in a context where girls face unique challenges. Without a gender lens, the risks of exclusion grow even greater. Despite commitments, key stakeholders admit the implementation remains uneven.
A senior official at the Ministry of Education acknowledged, “We’ve made progress on infrastructure and scholarships, but we are yet to embed GRESP fully into our monitoring systems.” This absence hinders government’s ability to measure the actual impact of gender-focused policies and interventions.
In theory, Borno has a Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) system within the Ministry of Education designed to track implementation progress and outcomes of SESP. But in practice, the MEAL system has faced structural challenges. Data on female enrolment and retention, particularly in conflict-prone areas like Gwoza, Bama and Dikwa remains incomplete or outdated.
Outcomes still inconsistent with interventions
In some communities, gender-disaggregated data is not collected at all, thus making it difficult to evaluate the success or shortcomings of current programmes.
Aisha, a gender and M&E officer for AGILE shared that while scholarships and Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) have led to higher enrolment in urban schools, outcomes in rural areas are less consistent.
“There’s a gap between enrolment and completion. Girls start school, but due to insecurity, cultural pressures or lack of female teachers, many drop out before completing junior secondary school,” she said.
Indeed, school infrastructure remains a challenge in many IDP camps where temporary learning centres are often under-resourced or non-functional. Teachers working in rural areas also report limited access to gender-sensitivity trainings, leaving girls like Zainab unsupported, even when schools are available.
Need to strengthen efforts
Suppose the state hopes to improve learning outcomes and keep girls in school, in that case, it must strengthen its MEAL systems to collect gender-specific data, identify gaps and adjust evidence-based interventions. Currently, there is no centralised dashboard or report regularly tracking how policies like the 60/40 gender enrolment guideline (favouring girls) are performing in hard-to-reach LGAs.
To avoid losing the gains made through AGILE and similar interventions, Borno must embed GRESP principles across its entire education system. This means shifting from a narrow focus on enrolment numbers to tracking broader indicators such as learning outcomes, transition rates, school safety and access to gender-sensitive infrastructure, particularly for girls in rural and displaced communities.
The Borno State Ministry of Education must take the lead by integrating GRESP principles directly into the State Education Sector Strategic Plan (SESP) which runs from 2021 to 2030. The ministry must also strengthen its Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) systems by developing a centralised data dashboard that tracks gender outcomes in real-time. Recruitment and deployment of more female teachers in underserved areas should also be prioritised to create safe, supportive learning environments for girls.
The Ministry of Women Affairs has a critical role to play in leading community sensitisation and orientation campaigns aimed at shifting deep-rooted cultural beliefs that continue to hinder girls’ education. Targeted engagement with parents, traditional leaders and local influencers is necessary to dismantle social resistance and increase community ownership of education reforms.
Meanwhile, the Borno State House of Assembly Committee on Education must step up its legislative oversight. It should ensure that the gender equity commitments in the SESP are not only fully funded but actively tracked and reported. This includes regular public reviews of progress and accountability sessions with the Ministry of Education and other implementing bodies.
The Ministry of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning must establish a dedicated budget line for gender-responsive education and ensure transparent and timely disbursement of funds. This budget should cover girls’ scholarships, teacher training and school infrastructure in hard-to-reach communities, ensuring that no area is left behind.
Borno already has a 10-year education roadmap. However, without meaningful implementation, monitoring, and cultural reorientation, the SESP risks becoming another paper policy. To truly deliver on its promise, the state must take full ownership and institutionalise gender equity as a core part of its education strategy, not just as a donor requirement, but as a moral and social obligation.
Zainab’s dream of becoming a nurse may be on hold, but it doesn’t have to end. With the right systems in place and with the political will to back them, girls like her won’t be left behind. In a state still healing from years of conflict, gender-responsive education is more than a development target; it is a path towards equity, peace and a stronger future for all.