Yobe Out Of School Children Now 40%, Says Report

“Forty percent of children in Yobe State are out of school”, the technical committee set up to revitalise basic and secondary education in the state has said.

Prof. Mala Daura, Chairman of the committee made this known yesterday when he submitted an interim report to Governor Mai Mala Buni in Damaturu.

Daura said that a survey conducted by the committee had indicated that decline in the role of traditional institutions had hastened the decay and led to low enrolment and retention.

He noted that the insurgency in the state had prevented students from going to school.

“Now, teaching and learning environment in urban setting and LG headquarters are overstretched due to overcrowding; while rural areas have poor enrolment and retention,” 

He added that the data generated by the committee through primary and secondary sources indicated that basic and secondary education sector in the state was faced with challenges of overstretched resources relating to teachers, infrastructure and other facilities

He added: “Teachers were poorly trained, poorly remunerated and generally poorly looked after.” He said 30 percent of the teachers in the state had no teaching qualification; the situation he said had contributed to poor students’ performance in SSCE, NECO and other examinations.

The committee urged the governor to undertake a manpower audit to screen all teaching staff, identify qualified ones for recruitment. 

Buni commended the committee for a job well done and promised to implement the recommendations within the limit of available resources.

Recall that former Education Minister, Adamu Adamu had during the ministerial screening by the senate last month disclosed that out of school children has hit 16 million.

Adamu said his figure is based on a February 2019 census.

He noted that out of primary school children stood at 10 million, while children out of secondary school are six million.