Earlier this week, on July 6, the world turned its attention to rural communities on...
Earlier this week, on July 6, the world turned its attention to rural communities on...
By 9 years old, in grade 6, I was already used to the rigidity of...
IRC team posing for a photo during the IGNITE inception workshop
If you walk through Guzape Village in Abuja, Nigeria, it will not take long before someone tells you about a girl who had to drop out of school. Maybe it was because her parents couldn’t afford school fees anymore. Maybe she got pregnant. Maybe, like many girls in underserved communities, life just got in the way and school became a distant memory.
In this village, and in others like it, the number of out-of-school girls continues to rise. While many will point to poverty as the cause, this is not the whole story. Deep-rooted social norms play a role too. For some families, educating girls isn’t considered a priority. “She will just get married anyway,” they say. Others simply don’t believe girls should go further than primary school. Add to that the weight of teenage pregnancy and you begin to understand why some girls never find their way to, or back to, the secondary school classroom.
But this story is not just about why girls drop out. It is about what happens when they are given a second chance.
In March 2025, Beyond the Classroom Foundation launched the REIGNITE Project, a bold, deeply personal program under the Beyond Her Odds Initiative funded by the IGNITE Consortium. Our goal was simple but urgent: help girls who had been forced out of school reclaim their confidence, get life skills, and return to the classroom stronger than ever.
20 girls were selected as REIGNITE’s first ever cohort. If we had ever been concerned that REIGNITE was a needed program, the fact that over 80 girls showed interest and we had to develop criteria for participation wiped that fear away. The criteria for participation was to be an out-of-school girl between the ages of 12 and 22 who could understand and speak basic English, just enough to follow the sessions and express themselves. Most importantly, they had to want to go back to school – not for their parents, not for society, but for themselves.
The REIGNITE Academy ran in three phases, each one crafted with care to meet the girls where they are, and walk with them toward where they want to be.
The first phase of the program focused on learning and mindset. For three days, the girls came together in a small, cozy space in the heart of Guzape Village. Every day, they sat together in a classroom filled with their REIGNITE manuals and hope. They learned about the importance of education, goal setting, confidence, and personal safety.
They talked openly about what had happened to them, why they dropped out, what they feared, and what they dreamed of. Some cried. Some laughed. Some stayed silent, but you could tell something was changing.
They were learning that their current situation did not have to define their future. That they could still go back to school. That they deserved to.
One of the girls, Temitope, stood out. She had been out of school for more than two years. Her voice was soft and almost unsure when she first introduced herself. But as the days went on, she started speaking more, asking questions, and sharing ideas. She later shared how her father had pulled her and her sister out of school, saying he would not “waste money” on girls who would “end up in someone’s kitchen.” She broke down crying when she talked about how helpless she felt. But by the time we wrapped up the first phase, she was one of the most active girls in the room, head high and eyes clear.
Once the mindset was strengthened, we moved on to empowerment. In this phase, the girls were trained to make liquid soap and reusable sanitary pads, skills that can help them earn income even as they plan to return to school.
This wasn’t just about making products; it was about building self-reliance. When a girl can create something useful with her hands, sell a bottle of soap or teach someone else how to make pads, she begins to see herself differently. She is no longer “just a dropout”, but a provider and a change-maker.
We held hands-on workshops with skilled facilitators, and the girls lit up with excitement as they measured ingredients, cut fabrics, stitched pads, and tested out their first batches of soap. Some even talked about starting small businesses in their neighborhoods.
These girls, who were once dismissed and sidelined, now had something powerful in their hands: skills and confidence.
The graduation, which is the third phase, was more than just a ceremony. It was a celebration of everything these girls have overcome. We held it under a canopy in the community, and a lot of people came out to watch. Even a few younger out-of-school girls said they wanted to be “next.”
Each girl wore her REIGNITE t-shirt and a gold sash around her neck, and you could see how proud they were. They had gone from invisible to unstoppable. As they were called up one by one to receive their certificates, they clapped and danced. Not just because they had completed a program, but because they had come back to life.
And then Temitope spoke.
She held the microphone with shaky hands, looked around the crowd, and then said something none of us will ever forget. “My father told me school was not for girls like me. For two years, I stayed home, watching my dreams disappear. But this program brought me back. My sister and I are going back to school. This is the beginning of my future.”
There were tears in the crowd, some from the girls, some from the facilitators, and even some from us at the Foundation. We were crying because we knew how hard it had been to get here, and could see the weight these girls carried. But we also cried because we knew what it meant to finally be seen.
Graduation is not the end of their story. It is the start of a new chapter.
Now that they’ve completed all three phases of REIGNITE, these girls are eligible to be enrolled back into school to complete their formal education. We are working closely with school administrators, community leaders, and supportive families to make that happen. The dream is simple: every girl in this cohort will return to the classroom and stay there until she participates in another graduation ceremony, this time from school.
Of course, we know the journey will not be easy. There will be financial challenges, family resistance, and moments of self-doubt. But they are no longer walking alone. Beyond the Classroom Foundation will be there,every step of the way, to cheer them on, support their needs, and remind them of what they’ve already overcome.
Starting in June, we are welcoming a new set of 20 girls into the REIGNITE Academy, this time from the Karonmajigi Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp in Abuja. These girls, like the first cohort, have stories marked by disruption, displacement, and loss. But just like the girls before them, they carry a fire that refuses to go out.
They will go through the same three phases: mindset reawakening, empowerment through skills, and graduation. And when they walk that stage at the end, we hope they will carry the same boldness and belief, that they, too, can rise above every “no,” every “you cannot,” and every barrier they have ever known.
One girl, one cohort, one school at a time, REIGNITE is lighting the path back to education for girls who never gave up, even when the world gave up on them. With further support, Beyond the Classroom and REIGNITE can build – from one girl and one cohort at a time to a movement that changes lives.
This is just the beginning.
Inspiring Girls and Grassroots Networks for Inclusive and Transformative Education (IGNITE) is a 36-month project that aims to amplify the voices and agency of feminist-led CSOs and adolescent girls to subvert gender-related social norms that hinder girls’ participation in education and promote girls’ social inclusion and empowerment.
©2025, Inspiring Girls and Grassroot Networks for Inclusive and Transformative Education (IGNITE). All Rights Reserved.
