The Kaduna government, in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund, has intensified efforts to improve access to education and healthcare for children and women in remote and underserved communities.

The UNICEF country representative in Nigeria, Wafa Abdelatef, conducted a field monitoring visit on Tuesday in Kaduna, assessing interventions aimed at enhancing learning outcomes and improving healthcare delivery in designated areas of the state.

The visit began at Government Secondary School, Mararaban Jos, which is supported by the Fifth Chukker Polo Club and has been upgraded in partnership with Access Bank and UNICEF.

The facility now provides a safer and more conducive learning environment for children.

The delegation also visited a pilot Integrated Qur’anic Education Programme at Karofi, Zangon-Aya in Igabi LGA.

The Integrated Qur’anic Education Programme targets almajiris and out-of-school children, helping them gain foundational literacy and numeracy skills.

Abdelatef expressed satisfaction with the progress made, adding that the children were gaining both religious and basic education.

She emphasised the importance of ensuring not just access, but quality learning for every child.

The UNICEF boss explained that children now attend school three times weekly, where they learn literacy and numeracy in a culturally relevant environment, adding that UNICEF remains committed to supporting the government and communities to sustain the gains.

The monitoring team later visited an integrated mobile outreach programme at Tudun Kasa, Wuchichiri Ward, Zaria LGA, where health workers provided essential services, including immunisation, antenatal care, nutrition, and disease screening.

Abdelatef said she was encouraged by the large turnout of women and children receiving services, adding that the initiative was saving lives and addressing malnutrition, one of the state’s major child health concerns.

She said that vaccination coverage was increasing and commended Kaduna state for investing in life-saving supplies, including therapeutic foods for severely malnourished children.

The country representative reaffirmed UNICEF’s commitment to supporting Kaduna state in expanding access to quality education, nutrition, and healthcare, ensuring no child is left behind.

The director of public health at the Kaduna State Ministry of Health, Abubakar Idris, said the mobile outreach was designed to reach communities far from health facilities with comprehensive health services.

He explained that the outreach provided nutrition counselling, immunisation, antenatal care, tuberculosis and malaria screening, as well as demonstrations on preparing nutritious local diets to combat malnutrition.

Idris revealed that Kaduna State had renovated 255 primary health centres and 15 secondary health facilities across the state to strengthen healthcare delivery and ensure sustainability of outreach services.

He added that the state government allocated 16 per cent of its 2025 budget to health, surpassing the Abuja Declaration benchmark, and has co-financed nutritional commodities with UNICEF.

At Zangon-Aya, community leader Abdulrasheed Suleiman commended UNICEF’s support for the school. He said the school, established about 50 years ago, now offers structured learning that keeps children engaged and prevents idleness, while improving their educational and moral upbringing.

The head of the Qur’anic school, Yakubu Zakari-Yau, acknowledged the Kaduna government and UNICEF’s role in improving teaching through the introduction of foundational learning, adding that pupils who once lacked basic literacy could now read and write confidently.

He added that the intervention had transformed the learning environment, thereby bridging the gap between religious and basic education for children in the community.

At Tudun Kasa, Wuchichiri, the village head, Abubakar Ibrahim, thanked the state government and UNICEF for bringing health services closer to the people, saying it would go a long way in reducing child mortality and improving maternal health.

(NAN)