Women in Nigeria getting a second chance at an education

DW (English)

In northern Nigeria, countless women never had the chance to finish school or attend one in the first place. In Sokoto in the country's northwest, some of these women are now reclaiming that opportunity.

Transcript

00:01Ali Motu left school as a teenager.

00:04Like many others, she dropped out because of healing marriage, poverty,

00:09or the belief that education wasn't meant for women.

00:17I've always loved education since I was young.

00:21My dad didn't really value Western education as much as Islamic studies.

00:26When I asked my mom to enroll me, she did, and he didn't object.

00:34I finished primary school, but in JSS2, I got married.

00:39I got married.

00:42Decades later, with just 5,000 newa, about $3 per time,

00:51Ali Motu is back in class, surrounded by women with similar stories.

00:57My first son would bring home assignments, and I had to take him to a neighbor for help.

01:06Sometimes she was busy or away.

01:09It became a burden, so I decided to learn myself.

01:13When 39-year-old Justina Jacob told her family she wanted to return to school,

01:23they thought she would give up until she walked into the Women's Centre for Continued Education and enrolled.

01:30If I see some of my friends, maybe reading or writing,

01:35like somebody would be talking, they would be jotting, all those things.

01:39I would be thinking that, ah, if I would be able to do the same.

01:45There would be a lot of things that, ah, my mom would be going back to school.

01:48Ah, mommy, what would you go and be learning?

01:51I said, ah, I want to learn. I want to be like new people.

01:54So, later on, they would be happy.

01:57Returning to school isn't easy.

02:00These women juggle classes with work and family.

02:03Some work miles to attend lessons.

02:06Others study between chores.

02:09But their determination never fits.

02:16They sacrifice a lot.

02:18Businesses, household duties to be here.

02:22We remind them to stay patient and focused,

02:25so they can learn before returning to their other responsibilities.

02:33After class, Alimatu works as a tailor to support a family.

02:37Education is slowly reshaping a future.

02:40I had a business before enrolling. School didn't stop it completely.

02:52We close at 2pm, then I rest before attending Islamic school.

02:57After that, I sew clothes or made bags to sell.

03:01Alimatu dreams of finishing school.

03:13Growing a business and ensuring that daughters never have to choose between learning and survival.

03:18Since they were to follow them at home, there was something in the past.

03:19The needs of work has come to focus on the history of the

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