The Centre For Gender Studies of the Federal University Dutsin-ma in Katsina State on Thursday launched safeguarding tools to protect women and girls from gender violence and other forms of harassment.

The tools launched at the Sports Centre of the university in collaboration with Women’s Rights Advancement & Protection Alternative – WRAPA and Gender Mobile with the support of Ford Foundation include the Draft Gender Policy, Campus Pal App Adoption, and Educational Module.

According to the Director of the Center, Hajiya Hanifat Abdurraheem, the essence is to entrench tools to use in safeguarding women and girls to protect them which she said is a step to ensure a harassment-free university environment for the students irrespective of their gender.

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“When the students are given certificates, we want them to be in good character and learning.

“Before this program, we have done a lot of things, we have a school dress code where we try as much as we can to mold the female students especially to dress appropriately so that they will not attract any embarrassment to themselves.

“The centre was established about two years back with the objective of using the university as a research centre for anything that has to do with gender.

“Along the line, we have been able to organize several things such as lectures and other informative things.

“We have organised programs on issues to do with gender-based such as girl child education, violence against girls and women, poverty entrenched in women, and anything that stops women or girls from furthering as their male counterpart,” she explained.

In his address, the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University Dutsin-ma, Professor Armaya’u Hamisu Bichi, believed that the female gender is a cherished one that needs to be protected adequately by all because they are mothers, sisters, and daughters.

Professor Bichi also emphasized the need for special care, attention, and assistance to be given to the female gender wherever they find themselves.

“That’s why we have an open door policy where we protect them to make sure that they feel comfortable and safe wherever they are.

“WRAPA is also helping us with a new technology that even in the comfort of their rooms they can report any harassment against them and follow it up so that the university management can find a means of investigating and punishing anybody that harassed them,” Bichi added.

On her part, the wife of the Katsina State Governor, Hajiya Hadiza Bello Masari, described the new policy as a step in the right direction; stressing the need for all higher institutions of learning across the state to replicate the same.

Earlier in his goodwill message, the Special Adviser to the Katsina State Governor on Higher Education, Dr Bashir Usman Ruwan Godiya, said the issue of gender is certainly fundamental to human lives thus; protecting the lives of individuals irrespective of their gender which he said has been enshrined in any divine religion.

He disclosed that statistics have shown that one out of every three women globally is being insulted in one way or another other with over 200 million girls’ rights have been violated globally.

“Ours at the tertiary institutions is to ensure that this is actually maintained through our policies and programs.

“The issue of violence is across every gender but certainly it’s more disturbing, dangerous, and common among the girl child,” he said.

“Statistics have shown that one out of every three women globally is being insulted in one way or the other with over 200 million of girl child’s rights have been violated in one way or the other globally.

“This violation must certainly be stopped through our policies in our tertiary institutions. So, we will make sure that we replicate the initiative in all our tertiary institutions.

“It’s a religious task that the rights of women and men must be protected and, that of the women is more to be protected than that of the men.

“This is an important milestone we are witnessing in not only the FUDMA but also tertiary education in the state. I want to appreciate this university for establishing the Centre For Gender Studies.

Stakeholders, however, pleaded with the Katsina State Government to canvas for the campaign against gender-based violence in the state to ensure a clean and safe environment.