Why out-of-school children keep increasing – FG

The federal government has explained that credible education data and accurate learner tracking are critical to resolving Nigeria’s long-standing education challenges. This, it said, includes an estimated 15 million out-of-school children and persistent gaps in foundational literacy and numeracy. The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, stated this in Jos, Plateau State capital, during a three-day […]

The federal government has explained that credible education data and accurate learner tracking are critical to resolving Nigeria’s long-standing education challenges.

This, it said, includes an estimated 15 million out-of-school children and persistent gaps in foundational literacy and numeracy.

The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, stated this in Jos, Plateau State capital, during a three-day Basic Education Bootcamp Summit.

Weekend Trust reports that the summit was themed: “Enhancing Access to Inclusive Education and Bridging the Gap for Out-of-School Children in Nigeria”.

“Effective reform depends on identifying where children are, understanding why they are out of school, and deploying targeted interventions that return them to learning.

“Reliable data remains the backbone of effective education reform. Without knowing where the children are and why they are out of school, meaningful solutions cannot be implemented,” he said.

He, however, disclosed that the government has intensified nationwide efforts to address the issue of Nigeria’s out-of-school children menace through data-driven reforms.

Earlier, Plateau State governor, Caleb Mutfwang, said education remains the cornerstone of inclusive and equitable development, peace, and economic growth.

Mutfwang, who was represented by his deputy, Josephine Piyo, explained that the state’s educational interventions align with the national direction.

Meanwhile, the government dismissed a report that the country is offering new foreign scholarship opportunities to Nigerian students under the Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) programme.

Alausa said in a statement on Friday that the explanation became imperative to dismiss contradiction between the reported discontinuation of the BEA scheme and its appearance in the current budget.

The Minister urged the public to disregard misleading interpretations of budget figures that fail to reflect the technical realities of budget formulation and roll-over practices.

He explained that the allocations in question originated from the 2025 national budget, which had already been passed and signed into law before the Federal Government halted the processing of new BEA scholarship awards around April and May of that year.