Nigeria has over 10.193m out-of school children, highest in sub-Saharan Africa -Minister

EMMANUEL AWARI, Jalingo

 

Nigeria has the largest number of out-of-school children in sub-Saharan Africa, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, has disclosed.

Adamu disclosed this while flagging off Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA), in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital.

The Minister, who was represented on the occasion by the Minister of State, Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, said: “Only education offers the child the opportunity to confront the enemy, defeat armies and bring about the desired changes. Education is no doubt our collective responsibility and its failure can well be taken as a failure of all.

“Taraba State is one of the states with the highest number of out-of-school children in Nigeria. You will agree with me that there is nothing to cheer about if a single child is out of school, not to talk of the millions that are currently roaming the streets instead of being in the classroom”, he added.

He said since inception, the BESDA Programme has successfully enrolled 1,454,757 Out-of- School Children in 17 focus in the first and second cohort enrollment targetted non-formal centers stands at 2,616,511.

“I want to stress the fact that education is at the heart of all national development efforts and it is a priority of this administration’s Next Level Agenda”, he said.

Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono, said the Ministry in collaboration with the National Population Commission, NPC, conducted the 2019/2020 Nigeria Education Data Survey in the 36 States and FCT that bring the Out-of-School Children to School.

“Memorandum of Understanding  (MoU) has been signed between the Federal Ministry of Finance and National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, to this effect and the first and second tranche of funds released”, the Minister said.

He encouraged Taraba State to continue in its efforts towards addressing the challenge of the Out-of-School Children and ensure that results are achieved in the course of implementing BESDA Programme.

“The Monitoring and Evaluation by the Federal Ministry of Education is going to be more regular and intensive in order to ensure that the desired goals of BESDA are achieved”, he stated.

In his speech, the State Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku said the importance of education to the overall well-being and development of any society was well documented, which necessitated him to make it a point to personally flag it off.

“Education has remained a top priority for my administration since its inception, with increased funding for our primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. This has been pursued with zeal in the belief that a literate society is easier to lead and thus less vulnerable to manipulation and other social vices”, he added.

He said the BESDA Programme, which began in 2019, has become a beacon of hope, particularly for out of school children.

He pointed out that the programme has been able to complement government’s efforts to restore the lost glory of education by focusing on children who are not enrolled in formal school systems due to the Almajiri system, nomadic lifestyle, Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, and vulnerable children.

“It is especially significant that this programme is being launched at the same time that Taraba State is hosting the National Council on Education, NCE, meeting in Jalingo.

“As a result, it is no coincidence that the meeting’s theme, “Eradicating Out Of School Children Phenomenon: A Tool For The Achievement Education 2030 Agenda”, emphasizes the importance of ensuring that no child is denied the fundamental human right of unrestricted access to education”, the Governor said.

According to him, his administration has engaged and will continue to engage with traditional rulers, religious leaders and stakeholders on the importance of mobilizing followers to participate in this critical programme.

“Henceforth, government will take harsh measures against parents or guardians who intentionally deny their children access to free and compulsory education in the state. This is because government has committed enormous resources in the education sector, such as the establishment of more primary and secondary schools.

“For instance, in 2015, when this administration came in, there were 265 secondary schools but today, the number has increased to 305 as a result of increased enrollment. We recorded a major achievement in our students’ performance, rising from 21st to 8th position nationwide. This puts Taraba State as the first in the North as can be seen from these statistics”, Ishaku added.

He disclosed that Taraba State students scored 67.3 per cent in 2016, 61.909 per cent in 2017;  75.03 per cent in 2018 and 84.74 per cent in 2019, adding that the trend of students scoring in five subjects and above has been on the increase from a low of 46 per cent in 2015, when his administration came in.

“My administration has supported and promoted enormous development in the education sector in the State, which include: Monthly feeding subvention to Exchange Programme in Colleges in the State – that is Government Comprehensive Secondary School, Jalingo and Marmara Government Girls’ Secondary School, Wukari.

“The rescue Mission has been regular in the monthly releases of funds for this purpose. The payment of Registration fee of West African Examinations Council (WAEC) for 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 for SS3 sets of the students of Special Education Centre Mutum-Biyu, Special School for the Blind at Garbabi and students of the two exchange schools mentioned above by the Rescue Mission. The State Government restructured and reconstructed a block of office for the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in the state and purchased a 406 Peugeot Wagon Vehicle at the cost of N7 million to enable the examination body operate within the State and to ease the problems faced by schools in the state during registration and conduct of WAEC in the state. The Rescue Mission provided counterpart fund to the United Nations’ Children Education Fund (UNICEF) for conduct of school census, analyze and present the education sector plan and annual schools census data for the year.

“Others are:- The payment of counterpart fund  by Government for the Taraba State Universal Basic Education Board (TSUBEB) to enable her access fund from Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in 2015 matching grant; Train-the-trainers workshop was organized to update the knowledge of the Executive Secretary of PPSMB, Executive Chairman of TSUBEB and all Directors of the Ministry, Post Primary Schools Management Board, State Universal Basic Education Board, Education Secretaries of the 16 Local Government Education Authorities, Principals and Head-teachers of our schools by the State Government, Taraba State students’ Debate team, code named Team Taraba, sponsored by the State Government performed creditably well and came 2nd in the Presidential Debate held in Abuja in 2016 and as well took first position in the NTA/ETV National Science Children Expo 2016 with an award of N100,000 paid to Taraba State Government.

“ The State Government regularly transports Taraba State students to their various states of educational pursuits as well as students from the 19 Northern States back to their home states during holidays as its responsibility in the school exchange programme of the Northern states; Students were sponsored by the State Government to the National Computer Society Competition and the State emerged 2nd position out all the 36 states that participated in the year 2016 and a teacher from the State, Mr. Isaac Terver, from GDSS East, Wukari was honoured with award as Maltina Teacher of the year 2016  at Victoria Island, Lagos.

“Furthermore, the Rescue Mission Government has paid flight return tickets and stipends of  over N19.567million to its indigenes studying in Venezuela and bonded them with the State Ministry of Health; The State Government successfully conducted Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for Junior Secondary School III students and mock examination for Senior Secondary School II students in the State in the year 2015 to date, The State Government sponsored officers of the Ministry to various workshops and meetings in the country during the period under review, The State Government recruitment of 3,000 Rescue Teachers and deployment of same to Secondary Schools in the State, The State Government hosted the Maiden Convocation of the State University on 24th March 2018.

”It also ensured the establishment of the Faculties of Law and Health Sciences as well as completion and furnishing of the Senate and E-Library buildings in the university. The State Government renovated 2,211 blocks of secondary and primary school classrooms, constructed 999 blocks of classrooms, dug boreholes, purchased 8,010 plastic furniture and 59,884 sets of furniture across the State in 2018,  Provision of office, vehicles, furnishing and instructional materials under the State Education Project Investment Programme (SEPIP) in 2018, Training and provision of starter material packages for 51 post-Secondary School graduates from Peter Akinola Foundation at the cost of N17million; the renovation of examination hall in Government Science Secondary School, (GSSS) Jalingo in 2020; The Ministry with the help of the State Government and in collaboration with SEPIP AF, a World Bank Assisted programme, organized the Taraba School on Radio and Television/e-learning to mitigate the impact of COVID 19 on the students’ learning while staying at home.

“The Ministry, in collaboration with Hope Afresh Foundation, under the leadership of Her Excellency, Barr. Anna Darius Dickson Ishaku, has designed, built and will soon launch an e-learning portal for the benefits of students of basic and secondary levels in the State. The portal has been subscribed for the next five years and students excelled in the United States School exchange programme for the 19 northern states and Taraba came out best with seven students selected to study in America after a competitive examination for SS2 students in secondary schools.

“The unfortunate trend of removing girls from school for early marriage, child labor, child abuse, and street hawking during the school period will no longer be tolerated. The unacceptable attitude of some parents who denied their children access to basic education has contributed to the rise in societal ills, particularly insurgency, banditry, and kidnapping.

He   appealed to the Federal Government, Development Partners, and Non-governmental Organizations to maintain the existing synergy with the State Government in the drive to not only increase school enrollment but also to provide basic teaching and learning facilities, as well as infrastructure, in all nooks and crannies of the State.

“Unfortunately, several school infrastructures built with scarce public funds have been destroyed or vandalized as a result of one or more conflicts. We, on the other hand, are undaunted and remain committed to providing more facilities in schools, because education is the foundation of society”, the Governor stated.

 Also speaking, the Commissioner for Basic Education, Johannes Jigemes, said with the coming of Governor Darius Ishaku into power, the education sector was blessed.

“The Governor has invested enormous resources, time and Manpower in overhauling the Sector with visible improvement in the overall student performance and external examinations’, Jigemes said.

He disclosed that non-formal learning Centers have been established with a total enrollment of 24,150 children and 650 facilitators engaged for the purpose.

“The literacy programme includes 1,004 Schools with a total enrollment of 64,261 students. We Increase our advocacy efforts to encourage out of school children to enroll”, he said, revealing that the #ENDSARS Protest caused setback, including vandalisation of SUBEB and BESDA Materials, Offices and equipment.

“As a result of this, I urged the Federal Government to release more funds to State to ensure the successful implementation of Better Education Service Delivery for All Program, as Education is the responsibility of all”, he said.

In his vote of thanks, the Executive Chairman, Taraba State Universal Education Board, Yakubu Agbwaizo, appreciated Governor Ishaku for his support to the Educational sector in the state, adding: “Since inception of the Governor, various School Programmes were provided ranging from infrastructure, teachers training and retraining”.

 He disclosed that the out-of-school children in the state stood at 231,600 by 2015, but with the implementation of the BESDA Programme, it has been reduced to 219,803 and the literacy rate improves.

 

 

For a better society