Lucky Obukohwo Reporting
The Minister of Education, Mal. Adamu Adamu, has said that Nigeria accounts for 12.4 percent of the Out-of-School Children in sub-Saharan Africa.
Represented by Mrs. Olatunji Davis, Director of Basic Education, Federal Ministry of Education, Adamu said this in Benin during the 2023 Education week with the theme ” Education for Alahgogaro: investing in quality education and access for our children and youth”.
“Our education challenge is an open secret; out of 258 million Out-of-School Children worldwide, an estimated 62 million are in Sub-Saharan Africa
“Nigeria is said to accounts for 12.4 percent of the Out-of-School Children in sub-Saharan Africa”.
According to him, the 2018 National Personnel Audit estimated that 10.5 million children aged 5 to 14 were not in school, adding that the figures have been further exacerbated by the increased learning poverty caused by closure of schools and non-return of children to school following the Global COVID-19
Pandemic.
He said to ensure access to quality basic education for the Nigerian child, the President’s June12 declaration on the enforcement of free and compulsory basic education for the first nine years of schooling underscores Nigeria’s commitment to achieving Universal Basic Education (UBE) as enshrined in the UBE Act of 2004.
He listed the strategic programmes to achieve the federal government commitment to include the Better
Education Service Delivery (BESDA) , Adolescent Girls’ Initiative for Learning and
Empowerment (AGILE), IDEAS Programme, and the Transforming Education Systems at State
Level (TESS) and the various interventions of the federal ministry of education at the Federal and States and through the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and other agencies of the Federal Ministry of Education.
“Education is one of the most important investments a country can make in its future. It is a powerful agent of change which improves health, livelihoods, contributes to social stability and drives long-term economic growth.
” The return on investment in education is very high therefore, there must be no compromise on quality”, Adamu said.
He stressed that a major policy priority for the Medium-Term National Development Plan still remains to improve access to quality education in the country.
The Minister however commended the Edo state government for improving the education sector as he charges other state to follow suit.
Earlier, the Edo State Commissioner of Education, Dr. Joan Oviawe, said the education week was to showcase the progress made thus far in Edobest in the last six years and also what to do, moving forward in the learning of our children