Project Title: Strengthening the Implementation of new secondary school curriculum for girls schools in Jigawa and Kano states project – Skills4Girls4Life (PSIPSE II)

Funder: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Project Period: 1^st June 2016 – 30^th June 2019

Location: Jigawa, Kano, Katsina and Sokoto States

PSIPSE The Partnership to Strengthen Innovation and Practice in Secondary Education (PSIPSE) is a girls’ education innovation incubation initiative under which the dRPC received two cycles of funding from 2013 to 2016 and 2016 to 2019. The dRPC’s PSIPSE grant from the MacArthur foundation functioned at three levels

1. We sought to strengthen the capacity of government agencies such as the Nigerian Education Research and Development Council (NERDC) the Premier Think tank for Nigerian Education Research and Development; NERDC state representative offices, Ministries of Education and State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) in Kano and Jigawa state to review and implement the new National Senior Secondary School Curriculum and to develop teaching aids and supporting materials;
2. to strengthen the capacity of the school system through teacher training and the development school libraries in the 30 selected government girls senior secondary PSIPSE intervention schools in Jigawa and Kano States to teach subjects in the new curriculum;
3. to empower girls in the selected PSIPSE intervention schools by providing them with opportunities for vocational skills business development information and improved livelihoods through safe spaces and afterschool clubs;
4. to improve school security and community commitment to protecting girls schools by strengthening school – community relations.

The project touched many educationally disadvantaged girls schools, all 30 of which were selected in collaboration with government in Kano and Jigawa States. Our records show that since 2013 over 88 skills building activities were conducted in which thousands of stakeholders participated in those activities. In total over 10,000 girls were impacted by this project, approximately 200 teachers and principals were trained; school libraries were established in 8 schools; after school clubs were supported in 15 schools; over 100 staff of MDAs in education were trained and most importantly pass rates in WAEC have more than doubled in the project focal schools compared to the schools were there was no project activities.

When we started the project in 2013, the percentage of students with at least five credits including English and Mathematics from PSIPSE intervention schools was 3.7% in Kano State and 23.4% in Jigawa State. In 2015, the performance increased up to 63.0% in Jigawa State and 45.4% in Kano State. The trend in both states was sustained up to the current time.