Fresh promises for Nigeria’s 10.5 million out-of-school children

Fresh promises for Nigeria’s 10.5 million out-of-school children

Currently, there are more than 10.5 million out-of-school children, according to the Nigerian government. But the government says it has committed N10 billion to remove 10.2 million out-of-school children from streets in the next five years.

The governments said it hopes to achieve the target by enrolling two million children yearly in the next five years.

The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, said this during the unveiling of “Education Sector Short and Medium Term Blueprint/Work Plan on the implementation of Education for Change: A Ministerial Strategic Plan (MSP)“ document presented on Thursday in Abuja.

The two-day retreat was attended by states’ commissioners of education, permanent secretaries, chairpersons of State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs), directors and heads of parastatals and agencies in the education sector.

According to the document, by the end of 2020, about N3 billion would have been committed by 19 states, “outside the intervention of the federal government to ensure the enrollment of over two million school-age children who are not in school.”

The document also shows that states are expected to commit another N2.4 billion in 2021, N2 billion in 2022, N1.5 billion in 2023 and N1.1 billion in 2024 respectively towards addressing the problem.

Mr Adamu said the government would embark on sensitisation of traditional rulers and religious leaders on the need to inform their communities of the benefits of formal education.

The minister also said there will be ‘crackdown’ on substandard primary and secondary schools across the country.