Education Policy and Girl-Child Enrolment in Secondary Schools in Sokoto State, North West Nigeria

This study investigates the effectiveness of education policies designed to improve girl-child enrolment and retention in secondary schools in Sokoto State, North West Nigeria. Sokoto State consistently records among the lowest female secondary school enrolment rates in Nigeria, driven by a complex interaction of cultural norms, poverty, early marriage, and infrastructure deficits. Drawing on gender and education policy theory and recent literature on girls' education in Northern Nigeria from 2020 to 2024, the study adopts a descriptive survey design. Data are collected from 235 female students, parents, school principals, State Universal Basic Education Board officials, and non-governmental education partners across three local government areas using structured questionnaires and focused discussions. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression are applied to examine factors predicting enrolment and dropout. The study expects to find that conditional cash transfer programmes, school feeding initiatives, and community-based sensitisation have had limited impact in overcoming deep-seated cultural and religious barriers to girls' education in Sokoto. Supply-side gaps including insufficient female teachers, inadequate sanitation facilities, and long school distances are also assessed. Recommendations will target culturally sensitive school-family engagement strategies, expanded female teacher recruitment, and accelerated safe school infrastructure construction in the North West zone. Keywords: girl-child education, enrolment, secondary school, Sokoto State, gender policy