We’ve Reduced Out-Of-School Children By 2million– Education Minister

Following various interventions of the government and development partners, the number of out of school children in the country has reduced from 13.2 million to 10.2, the Federal Government has said.

Nigeria’s Education Minister, Mallam Adamu Adamu disclosed this at the 12th Edition of the Ministerial Press Briefing on the OSC Phenomenon held in Abuja on Friday.

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Adamu, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr Sonny Echono, said the reports of the figures of out-of-school children was conflicting ranging from 10 -13 million.

Ministerial strategic plan which states that Nigeria has 10.5 million children aged 6-14, out of school.

Demographic Health Survey (DHS) has shown that the population of out of school children in Nigeria has risen from 10.5 million to 13.2 million.

He noted that the reasons adduced for this unfortunate phenomenon includes though, not limited to the following: financial incapacitation, violent conflicts and ignorance on the part of parents/guardians.

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However, lack of political will to confront the ugly phenomenon, social- cultural complexities, distance to schools; physically challenged children, child labour, migration and orphanage were other challenges of the OSC.

He went on to list the most out of school in Nigeria states which includes: Kano, Akwa Ibom, Katsina, Kaduna, Taraba, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara, Oyo, Benue Jigawa and Ebonyi.

He added that the problem of the administration is two-fold; to find a solution to empirical means of getting the figures right and the best ways of reducing the number to the barest minimum.

“ln the last four years, therefore, we have been making efforts to determine the exact number of out-of-school children.

“However, the good news is that the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and other stakeholders have been working towards this common goal of determining the number of children of school age who are not in school.

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“Similarly, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), the World Bank, United Nations International Children Education Fund (UNICEF), and other development partners are collaborating to reduce the number of out-of-school children.

“For now, based on the recently conducted National Personnel Audit of both Public and Private schools, Nigeria has an estimated out of school children population of 10,193,918,” he said.

According to him the challenges are inadequate security due to banditry/insurgency, misconceptions about the value of education and slow implementation of UBEC programmes by States Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs).

He listed other challenges which includes; low draw down of matching grant by SUBEBs, inadequate funds for special education, inadequate grassroots need assessment before project execution and wrong location of projects

The ministry in collaboration with the National Mass Adult and Non-Formal Education Commission had also developed a template to capture the OSC within the space of the next five years.

“We have sent out our team to countries like Pakistan and Indonesia that have similar issues with Nigeria and find a way they were able to overcome it.

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“We have also carried out advocacy and sensitisation programmes on monitoring and mentoring of School Based Management Committees (SBMCs) on school governance in 36 states and FCT.

“Steps are being taken under UBEC to construct 2,493 new classroom, 2,457 VIP toilets,19 laboratories, 91boreholes, 1,266 renovated, classrooms, procured 192,985 pupils and 10,038 teachers’ furniture,” the minister said.

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