FG to return 17m out of schools children in 4 years
The federal government has said that it plans to pull all the 17million estimated out-of-school children in the country back to the school system in four years. The Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Hajiya Aisha Garba, said this on Monday in Abuja, when he hosted the management of the Connected Development […]
ubec executive secretary, aisha garba
The federal government has said that it plans to pull all the 17million estimated out-of-school children in the country back to the school system in four years.
The Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Hajiya Aisha Garba, said this on Monday in Abuja, when he hosted the management of the Connected Development (CODE), led by its Chief Executive, Malam Hamzat Lawal in her office.
She said that while the commission is working to take all the estimated 17million of the kids back to schools in four years, the plan is to make it possible with the first 10million within three years.
Garba said, “Currently, we have about 17million children out of school. And out of that 17milion that are out of school, we already have almost half of them that are in the Quranic schools. So, what we’re trying to do, working with relevant agencies, is within the next two to three years, we’re able to at least bring basic education into the lives of 10million out-of-school children.
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“That is the minimum we are targeting. Overall, 17m is our overall target in four years, but within three years, we will be able to achieve 10m. And this 10m, we will do it through integrating or I would say infusing the Quranic education, working together with the Al-Majri Commission and other relevant organisations to ensure that even those that are going through the Al-Majri Quranic schools, at least they have the minimum of learning and reading happening in their own schools.
“UBEC, working with other relevant commissions and working directly, particularly with SUBEBs will ensure that we have the necessary infrastructure, conducive learning materials, as well as environment to ensure even those that have dropped out, are back into schools.”
Speaking earlier, the CODE Chief Executive, Malam Lawal said the advocacy visit to the executive secretary of UBEC, was to ensure structured partnership, to ensure the return of the children to schools, including in the hard to reach areas.
Lawal, who is also a Malala Fund Education Champion, said that the leadership of the UBEC had made a sound commitment.
“And particularly, it is about the children that we’re trying to ensure that they get access, knowledge and they’re all in school. With this partnership, what it means is we’re going to scale in terms of accelerating progress, reducing the numbers of out-of-school children, working with critical partners, particularly religious and traditional institutions to ensure that the awards go back to school, but also parents and teachers.
“Because as we do this work, we must ensure teacher training, we must ensure better remuneration, but we must also ensure adequate funding in terms of the infrastructure that is needed.
“Every class must be conducive for children, particularly girls. Because we know that when they are on their menses, without water, without toilet, they will not be able to go to school,” Lawal said.