Four hundred secondary school students comprising 300 girls and 100 boys have been sensitised on the evil of Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
The programme, which was organised by the state Ministry of Education in collaboration with Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF), was intended to awaken the consciousness of the general public, especially young girls and women, on the increasing activities of rapists, who take advantage of innocent and unsuspecting women.
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Speaking during the event in Minna, the Commissioner for Education, Hajia Hannatu Jibrin Salihu, said the aim was to raise awareness to increasing incidents of sexual violence especially during the COVID-19 lockdown.
“It is in response to the above national challenge, that the Ministry of Education in collaboration with WARIF decided to organise this sensitisation programme for the adolescent youths that are of secondary school age to educate and increase awareness of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) amongst the adolescent girls in Niger State and equip them with necessary information on how to respond to cases of GBV.
“It is our primary social responsibility to ensure that all young girls and women live in a society free of rape and sexual violence through a unique holistic method of tackling GBV through the development and implementation of a series of initiatives, targeting both the intervention/treatment of these affected women, as well as providing preventive measures in education and community service to reduce the high incidence.
“We must therefore, support WARIF to redress the adverse effects seen as a result of GBV both immediate with health and psychosocial risks to survivors such as new cases of HIV/AIDS and unwanted pregnancies, as well as in the long-term societal problems that subsequently occur such as higher incidence of illiteracy and the adverse impact on girl learning and the societal development of a nation, “ she said.
