Kaduna, Partners Step Up Drive To Enrol 100,000 Out-Of-School Children

The Kaduna State Government and its development partners have intensified efforts to return 100,000 out-of-school children to classrooms through the Reaching Out-of-School Children (ROOSC) project.

The Country Director of Save the Children International in Nigeria, Duncan Harvey, disclosed this during a media briefing in Kaduna ahead of the public presentation of the Kaduna State Out-of-School Children Mapping Report.

Harvey said the target would be achieved through sustained collaboration among the state government, development partners and local communities.

According to him, the ROOSC project is being implemented in partnership with the Education Above All Foundation, Kuwait Fund, Qatar Fund for Development, the Islamic Development Bank and the Global Partnership for Education.

He said the initiative combines school construction, teacher training, community mobilisation, child protection and inclusive education programmes to improve access to quality education across the state.

Harvey described the recently completed mapping exercise as a major milestone, noting that it provides reliable data on the number and location of out-of-school children as well as the factors preventing them from attending school.

“The mapping has given us credible evidence to target interventions where they are most needed. It will enable the government and partners to enrol more children, retain them in school and improve learning outcomes,” he said.

The ROOSC Project Coordinator, Ezra Angai, said the programme extends beyond enrolment by supporting school infrastructure, strengthening teachers’ capacity, promoting community engagement and establishing monitoring systems to reduce school dropout rates.

He added that the project had already surpassed its first-year enrolment target through intensive community mobilisation and household sensitisation.

Also speaking, the Kaduna State Statistician-General, Dr. Bukar Baba Alhaji, said the mapping exercise covered 363,319 households across the state’s 23 local government areas and identified 187,719 out-of-school children.

He attributed the high number largely to poverty, insecurity and other socio-economic challenges, noting that the findings would guide targeted interventions by the government and its development partners.

The Director of Planning, Research and Statistics in the Kaduna State Ministry of Education, Mallam Baba Lawal, said the report would support evidence-based planning and help ensure that education interventions are tailored to the specific needs of affected communities.