Nigeria tops list of out-of-school children – UNICEF

It said Nigeria has about 28 million primary school age population and 59 per cent of the children out of school. The number of girls out of school is said to be higher with about 32 percent while that of boys is about 27 per cent.According to the report, the highest number of children out […]

It said Nigeria has about 28 million primary school age population and 59 per cent of the children out of school. The number of girls out of school is said to be higher with about 32 percent while that of boys is about 27 per cent.
According to the report, the highest number of children out of school is from the rural areas and therefore likens the cause of the increasing number of out-of-school children to poverty and unavailability of necessary infrastructures.
It said among the rural children who work, almost half are out of school and that about 87 per cent of these poor children will never attend school.
The report also said that children who are excluded from education often face multiple and overlapping disadvantages.
Associate Director and Global Chief of Education, Programme Division, UNICEF, Jo Bourne and the Head of Education Statistics, UNESCO, Albert Motivans, noted in a report that progress to reduce the number of out-of-school children has stalled.
They said: “Data shows that progress on reducing the number of children out-of-school has stalled. As of 2012, 58 million children of primary school age and another 63 million children of lower secondary school age were still out of school <http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Documents/oosci-global-report-en.pdf>.
According to them, there are also indications that progress towards universal primary education is slowing and that the goal will not be met by 2015 if current trends continue.  
While urging countries to subscribe to the use of new data programme to help in finding out the exact number of children out of school and their location, they said data is key to reaching excluded children.
“121 million children and young adolescents are out of school and we do not stand a chance of reaching them by continuing to pursue a one-size-fits-all approach to education,” they said.