Adult Education, Fundamental In Tackling Out-Of-school Children- Minister

The minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman has stated that the most potent way of tackling out-of-school children is to give adequate attention to adult education.

The minister who was speaking on Thursday, during a briefing session with the leadership of the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education, explained that educated adults will definitely allow for the education of their children.

The minister in a statement signed by the ministry’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Ben Goong spoke on the need to tackle adult illiteracy in the country.

He identified funding, advocacy and commitment as key elements necessary in tackling the menace.

Mamman directed the leadership of the Commission to furnish his office with the current number of adult illiterates in the country, their location and strategies for taking them off that shelf.

Also speaking, Minister of State for Education, Dr. Yusuf Tanko Sununu maintained that adequate funding is critical in raising the literacy level of the country.

He wondered why the Commission had been removed from the funding envelope of the annual national budget, promising that he would take up the matter with his colleagues at the National Assembly.

Sununu explained the Commission was not a revenue generating agency, but the provider of a critical national service and must be taken seriously.

Earlier, while briefing the ministers, the Director General of the Commission, Prof. Simon Akpama said that investment in the adult education sub-sector has the potential of not only improving the overall literacy level of the country, but will also drastically reduce the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria.