Out-of-School children’s figure drops – Minister
The Federal Government says the number of Out-of-School (OSC) Children in the country has reduced from 13.2 million to 10.2million, following various interventions of the government and development partners.
The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu said this at the 12th Edition of the Ministerial Press Briefing on the OSC Phenomenon held in Abuja on Friday. Adamu, who was represented by Mr Sonny Echono, Permanent Secretary of the ministry, said that conflicting figures of out-of-school children were being given, ranging from 10 -13 million. Ministerial strategic plan states that Nigeria has 10.5 million children aged 6-14, out of school. However, a recent Demographic Health Survey (DHS) has shown that the population of out of school children in Nigeria has risen from 10.5 million to 13.2 million.
According to him, the reasons adduced for this unfortunate phenomenon include, though, not limited to the following: financial incapacitation, violent conflicts and ignorance on the part of parents/guardians. He added that lack of political will to confront the ugly phenomenon, socio-cultural complexities, distance to schools; physically challenged children, child labour, migration and orphanage were other challenges of the OSC. He listed the most endemic states of the OSC to include: Kano, Akwa Ibom, Katsina, Kaduna, Taraba, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara, Oyo, Benue Jigawa and Ebonyi.
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