‘6 Factors Contributing to Menace of Out-of-school Children in Nigeria’, UNICEF Education Specialist Reveals

• All children, no matter where they live or what their circumstances, have the right to quality education, UNICEF says
• UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, works in Nigeria and dozens of other countries and territories, to defend children's rights
• A worker with the Humanitarian aid organization, Abdulrahman Ado, said millions of Nigeria’s children aged 5-14 years are not in school

Bauchi, Bauchi state - Abdulrahman Ado, an education specialist at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Bauchi Field Office, has said Nigeria contributes about 15 percent to the number of out-of-school children globally.

Ado stated that Bauchi state has the highest number of out-of-school children in the northeast region.

'High rate of out-of-school children worrisome', UNICEF rep laments

He explained that according to a Nigeria Education Data Survey (NEDS) report of 2018, Nigeria is unlikely to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs 4, adding that the country still maintains the enrollment figures of 1995 of 60 percent.

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He told Legit.ng:

"In 1995, pupils' enrollment was 60 percent; 2001 was 70 percent; and 2003-2005 recorded 84%. However, there was a nose dive in 2007 to 59 percent.

"From 2011 to 2013, there was an improvement to 79 percent while it fell sharply in 2015-2017 to 61 percent.

"The recent data of 2018 is exactly what Nigeria recorded in 1995.”

Furthermore, Ado highlighted some of the factors contributing to the problem of out-of-school children in the country. He listed them to include insecurity, funding, economic recession, imbalance, changes in national and state-level administration, and lack of sustainability in activities when development partners withdraw.

6 factors contributing to the menace of out-of-school children in Nigeria, according to UNICEF education specialist

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1. Economic recession
2. Funding
3. Insecurity
4. Absence of equity
5. Changes in central and state-level administration
6. Lack of sustainability in activities when development partners pull out

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In a piece of related news, Legit.ng reported that with Nigeria topping the list with about 18.5 million out-school-children, the United Nations Children's Fund said that 60 per cent of this population are girls.

Speaking at a media dialogue on girls' education the chief of field office, UNICEF field office in Kano, Mohammed Farah said education is a fundamental human right that every child should enjoy, especially the girl child.

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Legit.ng also reported about a nongovernmental organization (NGO) addressing low-quality education in Ajegunle area in Lagos state.

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Grace Chinenye Nkwocha could not hold back her tears as she was gripped by the unnerving memories of young kids from Ajegunle struggling to control the computer mouse in the 21st century.

This small, movable device helps them control a range of things on the computer whenever they come for the free ICT training every Saturday.

Source: Legit.ng