Energizing the community around child-friendly schools

Poverty and gender disparities create obstacles to primary school enrolment. Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa, with more than 140 million people. With children under 15 years of age accounting for about 45% of the country’s population, the burden on education and other sectors is overwhelming. If Nigeria is to meet the millennium development goal of achieving gender parity in education by 2015, progress in girls’ school enrolment and attendance will have to be twice as rapid as it is now. This report presents an overview of the child-friendly school initiative, a collaborative approach between UNICEF and Nigeria Ministry of Education. The initial model schools were targeted towards Nigeria’s six northern states, whose overall level of enrolment was lowest and gender gap highest.