A 63-year-old grandmother, Furera Muhammad, has returned to the classroom in Kano State to pursue the formal education she was denied as a child.
Furera, who attends an Islamic school alongside some of her grandchildren in Rigafada community, said girls of her generation were rarely encouraged to go to school.
“I wish I had gone to school when I was young, not now with my grandchildren,” she said.
She added that she would have become a teacher if she had been given the opportunity to acquire formal education earlier in life.
According to her, the lack of access to education denied many women the chance to realise their potential and contribute meaningfully to society.
Despite her age, Furera said she remains determined to learn, expressing hope that her story would encourage parents to educate their daughters and motivate girls to remain committed to their studies.
She spoke during a community engagement programme organised by the Development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC) in collaboration with the Ford Foundation under the Grannies Network for Change (G-NEC) project in Rigafada.
The programme brought together 40 grandmothers to discuss ways of promoting girls’ education and preventing gender-based violence, particularly verbal abuse against women.
According to the organisers, the G-NEC project is designed to leverage the influence of grandmothers in promoting positive social norms, improving girls’ access to education and creating safer environments for women and girls in selected communities across Kano and Jigawa states.
