Out-of-School Children: UNICEF, South-West Governors decry rate in the region

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the six state governments in the South-West Nigeria have expressed strong determination to jointly tackle out-of-school children crisis in the geo-political zone and bring the menace to a barest minimum within a possible shortest time.

The global agency partnering with all the six state governments, comprising Lagos, Oyo, Ekiti, Osun, Ogun, and Ondo, raised the concern at the just concluded two-day regional stakeholders’ meeting in Ibadan, Oyo state, on Out-of-School Children, Retention, Transition, and Completion of secondary education for children in the region.

The stakeholders including Oyo State Ministry of Education and its counterparts, agreed to commit resources, human and material necessary to combat the menace.

According to UNICEF Chief of Lagos Field Office, Mohammed Okorie “even though cases of out-of-school children may not be as serious in the southwest as in other zones, what matters most is to ensure that every Nigerian child of school age irrespective of where they live nationwide is not only going to school which should be free but must also stay and complete their education to at least senior secondary school and even transit to higher education”.

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He added that UNICEF would want state governments and other stakeholders in the region to embark on the journey together.

Giving an overview of the reality of out-of-school children across the six states, Babagana Aminu, an education specialist with UNICEF Nigeria, declared that it is not that children in the Southwest region are actually not enrolling in school for formal education but it is more burdensome that significant percentage of them do not wait to complete their secondary school education let alone transit to higher level.

According to the Multiple Cluster Indicator Survey in 2021, up to eight percent of school-age children in the zone are not in school for one reason or the other.

Even though this figure to UNICEF is on the high side, as the target is zero percent, he said more worrisome data has to do with retention and sustenance of those enrolled in schools up to senior secondary and ensuring they are equipped with knowledge and skills that will make them thrive and compete favourably with their peers globally.

While stating that the adverse consequences of leaving children on the streets are huge and also dire to society, Menkiti particularly mentioned that girl child is more vulnerable in this regard.

On his part, the Commissioner for Education, Oyo State, Prof. Salihu Abdulwaheed, acknowledged the huge out-of-school children gap in the region, decrying the situation in South west which is traditionally being referred to as an educational advantaged region.

While attributing the development largely to the influx of young children into the region, he mentioned that the Oyo State Ministry of the Environment is working on integrating out-of-school children in the state into schools or vocational training centres.

He promised that the state and the region by extension would now be more committed to the cause by finding a better way of addressing the menace.

In his own contribution, the Lagos State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Jamiu Alli-Balogun pointed out that it is not only worrisome but very embarrassing that the southwest region has a huge out-of-school children population even at this period of knowledge economy.