By Sani Adamu Hassan
Adolescent girls and young women across Bauchi State have called on the government to prioritize inclusive and gender-responsive education financing in the 2026 state budget to ensure that no girl is left behind in education.
The demand was contained in a press release issued by Seun Justin Onarinde of the Young Leaders Network (YLN) following the Girls’ Budget Townhall held on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, with the theme “Our Voices, Our Budget: Girls Speak for Inclusive Education 2026.”
The Townhall, convened by YLN in partnership with the Malala Fund, brought together adolescent girls from the HERVoice Education Changemakers Fellowship, Adolescent Girls’ Storytelling Clubs, and Girls’ Mentorship Clubs from schools across Bauchi State.
Teachers, civil society representatives, community leaders, and influencers also participated in the event, which focused on ensuring girls’ needs are reflected in education policies and budgetary decisions.
According to the press release, despite government commitments to improving education, current financing still falls short of addressing the realities faced by girls. Out-of-school girls, adolescent mothers, and married girls remain excluded due to insufficient funding for targeted interventions.
While the state’s allocations fall within global benchmarks, inefficiencies in spending mean funds rarely translate into gender-sensitive programs, leaving rural communities most affected.
The girls highlighted several barriers to inclusive education, including a lack of provisions for second-chance education for adolescent mothers and married girls, inadequate WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) facilities, insufficient funding for pad banks and menstrual hygiene programs, insecurity in learning environments, shortage of qualified female teachers, weak accountability in budget spending, poor school infrastructure, and overcrowded classrooms.
They urged the Bauchi State Government and relevant stakeholders to establish and fund specific budget lines for school re-entry programs, expand investment in WASH facilities, fund pad banks and menstrual hygiene initiatives, and strengthen the implementation of the Bauchi State Policy on Safety, Security, and Violence-Free Schools adopted in 2024.
They also called for the recruitment and training of more female teachers, stronger accountability frameworks for released funds, expansion of classrooms and libraries, provision of ICT facilities to support WAEC’s new Computer-Based Testing (CBT) policy, upgrading of more junior secondary schools to senior secondary schools, and support for projects such as AGILE to improve girls’ access to quality education.
The press release emphasized that education budgets are more than financial instruments but “moral documents” that reflect society’s priorities. “If girls are missing in the numbers, they will remain missing in classrooms,” the communiqué stated.
It further called on the government, development partners, and civil society organizations to mainstream girls’ education into budget planning and implementation to secure a future where no girl is left behind.
