We crave Western education, Borno girls who married as teenagers seek govt support

Group photograph of married adolescent girls in Tashan Kangele community, Maiduguri. Credit. Isah Ojo

Young women who got married as teenagers between the ages of 13 and 16 in Tashan Kangele community, Maiduguri, Borno State, have appealed to the government to expand access to education to enable them to redefine their future aspirations and contribute more meaningfully to society.

The women, most of whom said they were not aware of the existence of adult and second-chance learning centres in the state, also lamented the issue of proximity, noting that the government could improve access through increased awareness, the establishment of more centres and measures to address mobility challenges.

Speaking with our correspondent on Sunday in Maiduguri during a media engagement organised by the Participatory Communication for Gender Development Initiative, the women expressed their desire for Western education, saying they would value the opportunity to receive formal education.

One of them, Fatima Umar, 22, who is divorced, said she got married at 16, while claiming that her marriage ended following her constant demand to be as educated as her co-wife.

She said, “I got divorced because my husband got married to a second wife who is a working-class lady. Impressed by my co-wife’s achievement, I told my husband that I want to go to school to be working like my co-wife. That led to a fuss which subsequently separated us.”

“I already have a son. My wish is to return to school to be a working-class woman so that before I turn 30 years, I will be done with school and earning for myself,” she noted.

She said her education stopped at Primary Five but insisted that she never learnt anything significant at the time.

“I want to go to school. I crave education,” she stressed.

Another woman, Maryam Abba, 18, who got married at 14 and now has two children, said she had never had the opportunity to attend school.

“I am 18 years old. I got married at the age of 14. I now have two children. I have never been to school. If there is a means for me to go back to school, I will be glad because it will help me to care for my children and for them to also be educated,” she said.

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She, however, said many of the girls did not know whether the state government had a school for married women.

“I am aware there are schools for married people, but I don’t know if we have it in this town,” she said.

Similarly, Aisha Usman, one of the women, said she got married at 13 after the death of her mother, noting that her decision to return to school had been hampered by financial constraints.

“I was 13 when I was married off. When I lost my mum, I was married off to a family member, a cousin precisely. I just want to return to school to learn how to read so that I can teach my children. I have spoken to my husband about it, he just said God will make a way for it,” she stressed.

Meanwhile, the Programme Director of the PAGED Initiative, Umi Bukar, warned that neglecting women’s education could have serious consequences beyond the current level of insecurity in the country.

“The huge number of married adolescent young girls that have been denied education is just a lot. And the funny thing is that there are more young girls coming up and many of them don’t still have access to education,” she said.

“In Northern Nigeria, women’s education is not given priority at all. The insurgency we have faced in the past is not going to be child’s play compared to the future because, if these girls are not educated, how will they help their own children to be educated?” she added.

She said PAGED, as an organisation, had decided to go beyond advocating for women to allowing them to speak out for themselves.

“We want them to speak out more for themselves so that as we have more voices, it will become difficult for the government to ignore,” she stressed.

“These are the mothers for the nation. If they don’t benefit from education, their children may also not benefit and the circle will continue, and then we will be in bigger trouble than we are in right now,” she added.