Malala visits girls school in Maiduguri
15-year-old Nigerian student gives Malala tour of her school
During Malala’s Girl Power Trip stop in Nigeria, she spent a day in Maiduguri, the capital of the Borno state in northeastern Nigeria. There she visited the Yerwa Government Girls Secondary School, a government-supported boarding school for girls.
15-year-old student Tabitha guided Malala through the Yerwa School campus. They toured classrooms, the kitchen and the library — Tabitha also introduced Malala to some of her classmates.
The Yerwa Government Girls Secondary School reopened in October 2016 after a two year closure, during which the school was used as a temporary shelter for internally displaced people (IDPs) fleeing the militant group, Boko Haram. The insurgency has put the education of three million children in the north east at risk, killed 645 teachers, displaced 19,000 people and damaged over 2,500 schools.
Thanks to the support of the Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima, Tabitha’s school is open once again. Tabitha and her classmates have high goals for their futures — many want to be lawyers, journalists or teachers. Tabitha hopes to attend university in a few years. “I want to be a doctor to help people when something bad happens like the insurgency,” she said.
With their education, Tabitha and her classmates can make their dreams a reality. But tens of millions of girls in Nigeria won’t have that opportunity. Although Borno State is prioritising education, that is not the case across the country. Inadequate government spending is one of the main reasons Nigeria has more out-of-school girls than any other country. The Nigerian government allocated only 6.1% of the federal budget to education this year, down from 11.29% in 2015.
Malala highlighted Nigeria’s education crisis on her Girl Power Trip. While in Abuja, Malala met with Acting President Osinbajo. She asked that he declare a state of emergency for education, triple the proportion of the federal budget spent on education, make spending on education transparent and encourage all states to adopt the Child Rights Act.
During her tour with Tabitha, Malala saw firsthand what life is like for a girl whose education is supported by the government. She wants this commitment extended to every girl in Nigeria. By joining Malala’s fight for girls education, Tabitha hopes to see girls across Nigeria “one and united in going to school.”
Malala is on her global #GirlPowerTrip to meet with girls like Tabitha and amplify their stories. Each girl has a unique story to tell — and their voices are our most powerful weapons in the fight for education and equality.
