Number of Out-of-school children increase by 3 million in 3 months- Minister

By Modupe Shodeinde

The Minister of State for Education, Emeke Nwajiuba, has stated that the number of out-of-school children in the country has risen to three million in 3 months.

The Minister said the current number of out-of-school children in the country is at 10 million.

This implies an increase of 3,054,000 from the 6.946 million the figure was last year.

The minister of education, Adamu Adamu, had earlier said in January that the number of out-of-school children which was 10.1 million in 2019 had reduced to 6.946 million in 2020

At the official flagging off of the World Bank-sponsored Better Education Service for All (BEDSA) in Dutse, Jigawa State, Nwajiuba said:

“With an estimated 10,193,918 children out-of-school, Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

He noted that to address these challenges, Nigeria must strengthen the quality of basic education by confronting head-on those factors denying children access to basic education.

The minister said Jigawa State was one of the worst hit.

The minister described the current figure of out-of-school children as disturbing, imploring state governments and other stakeholders to join the Federal Government in addressing the issue “since it affects the development of the country.”

According to him, the flag-off of the programme in Jigawa was in appreciation of the efforts of the state government towards reviving the ailing sector.

He said apart from Jigawa, 16 other states, including all the states in the northwest and northeast as well as Niger, Rivers, Oyo and Ebonyi States, would also benefit from the intervention to help reduce the number of out-of-school children.

He stated that the states were selected to benefit from the from the project because of the high number of out-of-school children there. He described Jigawa as one of the worst-hit by ranking.

Daily Trust reported that an educationist, Michael Ojunugwa, attributed the situation to the recent abductions of students and teachers in some states in the north.

“If nothing is done to tackle abduction, it’ll get to a point where education will no longer take place in the north as no parents will allow their child to go and suffer in the hands of insurgents or bandits just to be educated,” he said.