Out of school children: UNICEF, SUBEB collaborate to return children to schools

The issue of out-of-school children in Nigeria, especially in the northern part of the country, has remained a topical issue as well as controversial. The actual number has not been ascertained due to lack of accurate data to either support or substantiate the various figures being bandied by many sources.

However, a 2022 UNESCO report noted that approximately 20 million Nigerian individuals of its approximately 200 million population are not enrolled in schools. This is more than the overall population of some countries in Africa.

Though primary education is officially free and compulsory in Nigeria, about 10.5 million of the country’s children aged five to 14 years are not in school while only 61 percent of six to 11-year-olds regularly attend primary schools and only 35.6 percent of children aged 36 to 59 months receive early childhood education.

In the North, the picture is even bleaker, with a net attendance rate of 53 percent while getting out-of-school children back into education poses a massive challenge.

A 2018 report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) had indicated that 69 percent of the over 10 million out-of-school children (highest in the world) between age six and 14 are domiciled in the Muslim northern region of Nigeria.

The report also revealed Northern states of Bauchi and Katsina led at the bottom of educationally disadvantages states, with 1.1 million and 781,500 out-of-school children respectively. Out of this number, young girls constitute the largest demography at 60 per cent.

Unfortunately, two years later, in 2020, the number of out-of-school children increased to about 14 million, with no signs of abating. Four years later, in 2022, the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria had risen to 20 million, according to the latest report by United Nations.

It was in order to bring attention to the issue of out-of-school children (OOSC) in Bauchi State, that UNICEF Bauchi field office organised a media dialogue and field trip to see some of the interventions it has made in the sector.

During the exercise held on, Monday, July 24 devoted to a field trip to Alkaleri LGA from Bauchi, journalists interacted with out-of-school children, members of relevant community structures as well as parents/guardians.

On Tuesday, the team travelled to Misau Local Government Area and on Wednesday there was an in-house media dialogue at Misau. On Thursday, there was another field trip during which journalists engaged in interactive sessions with out of school children who have returned to schools, thanks to initiatives by government and UNICEF.

While declaring the media dialogue open virtually, Chief of Field Office, UNICEF, Bauchi Field Office, Dr Tushar Rane, lamented that  despite the importance of education, at least over 10 million school-aged children in Nigeria are out of school a development that has become a major challenge to all.

He stressed that “Education is a fundamental right that empowers children to reach their full potentials, it is deeply concerning that, due to varying factors, a significant number of children in Bauchi State are unable to access this fundamental right, robbing them of their dreams and aspirations” adding that, “Education plays a vital role in the development of any country. Quality education, especially at basic level, is integral to socio-economic development; no nation can rise above its educational level.”

He, however, said that, “At UNICEF, we are committed to improving the lives of children and women in Nigeria, especially in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); and the Education for All (EFA) goals of educating all children at all levels and in all groups.”

The UNICEF Chief of Field Office further said, “We work with the government to enhance planning for improved delivery of education. We also support the government to remove systemic barriers that impede children’s access to quality education.”

According to him, “Our work with the government is further enhanced through collaboration with traditional leaders, civil society organisations, faith-based organisations, communities, and other development partners to find solutions that will result in getting the out-of-school children back to school.”

He then explained that the media dialogue will be a platform for open and constructive discussions on the root causes of the issue of out-of-school-children, the challenges hindering school-aged children’s access to education, and most importantly, the potential solutions that the media and the organisation  can collectively work towards in Bauchi State.

The State Ministry of Education in its submission by the Director of Admin and Human Resources, Yakubu Ahmed, agreed that the issue of out-of-school children is a menace that needs various approaches to tackle.

Ahmed assured that the Ministry of Education will continue to collaborate with UNICEF and other relevant agencies in the educational sector on how to effectively tackle the menace.

Available records have indicated that basic education in Bauchi State is in a bad condition, such that 207 public schools across the 20 local government areas of the state do not have a single teacher, a worrisome development which is one of the factors causing an increase in the number of out-of-school children in the state.

The figure represents 6.3 percent of the total number of public schools managed by the state and local government authorities across the state as the entire public schools in the state are maned by 16,503 male and female teachers.

Further breakdown of the figure reveals that there are 9,104 qualified male teachers while the female ones are 5,406. This makes a total of 14,510, less than the 16,503 figure in the record. The total number of classrooms is 14,499 out of which the usable ones are 13,067. The others are completely dilapidated and not fit for human habitation.

Furthermore, available statistics showed that the total number of teachers with certification in English language is 3,416, representing 21 percent, while the number of teachers with certification in other Nigerian languages is 1,232 which represents a mere 7.5 percent.

To improve the above data, USAID funded LEARN to Read project advocated the need for Bauchi State House of Assembly to support the additional budgetary allocation to basic education which, according to the project, would go a long way in changing negative narratives.

The USAID funded LEARN to Read project’s Budget Planning and Policy Reform Specialist in Bauchi, Abdullahi Abubakar, made a paper presentation titled: “The Role of Legislature in Improving Basic Education” at the two-day orientation for members of the state House of Assembly held in Kano.

Abubakar said the state House of Assembly’s support in improving the basic education budgetary allocation was needed the most to address the myriad of problems in the education sector.

In a paper, the specialist said that lower level teaching and learning is in an excruciating state, where the Bauchi State government’s expenditure on each primary and Junior Secondary School pupil in 2019/2020 School Year was ₦19,264 and it suddenly dropped to ₦13,030 in 2020/2021 School year.

However, in 2019/2020 school year, the total amount spent on each senior secondary school student was ₦6,089, the figure decrease to ₦5,854 in 2020/2021 school year. Whereas on a single tertiary institution student in 2019/2020 academic session, the state government spent ₦179,770 it sharply rose to ₦229,633 in 2020/2021 academic session.

In 2019/2020 School year, the total budget by the state government in education and non-education, was ₦124,643,279,717, while in 2020/2021, the state increased it to ₦178,117,693,381. Total Expenditure on Education by state government in 2019/2020 School Year, is ₦9,730,295,769 representing 8% and in 2020/2021 school year, the state government expended ₦17,301,896,892, which represents 10 percent.

Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abubakar Sulaiman expressed shock on the presented data, and assured of the 10th state Assembly’s resolve to reverse the trend.

Sulaiman said that, “Everyone of us here is touched, by the presentation of very rich papers from different resource persons, we’ll return as changed personalities in our various constituencies, because we learned a lot and we’ll make sure that we bring the needed change to our people”.

The focus of the USAID’s LEARN to Read project in Bauchi State is to ensure that pupils in primary one and two can read and write in the language of their immediate environment particularly Hausa language.

There are strong indications that unless miracle happens, Nigeria as a country may not achieve the objectives of Goals 4.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the year 2030, considering the slow implementation of the programme.

The assertion was made by the Chief of Education, UNICEF, Nigeria Country Office, Saadhna Panday, while making a presentation titled: ‘Education in Nigeria: The race to SDGs-4, Issues, Trends and Prospects’ during a one-day media dialogue on out of school children in Bauchi State.

Represented by the Education Specialist, UNICEF, Bauchi Field Office, Abdulrahaman Ibrahim Ado, the chief of education said that the data available indicated that overall, what has been achieved eight years after the commencement of the Goal 4 of the SDGs has not been encouraging.

According to her, some drivers supporting and hindering success towards the SDG4 include Development partner interventions and private sector participation as well as the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme.

Saadhna Panday also identified Education reform, Girls’ education initiatives, Technology integration, Inclusive Education Policy and Creation and success of SBMCs as some other supportive elements.

The hindering elements include, Economic recession, Funding, Insecurity, Lack of equity, Changes in national and state-level administration and Lack of sustainability in activities when development partners withdraw.

The Chief of Education then recommended that Government must develop and implement with adequate resources, a New Results Based Strategic Plan 2023-2030 of the Education Sector for Nigeria aligned with SDG2030 and the National Development Plan 2021-2025 taking into account Covid19 negative effects on pupils learnings lessons learned from SDG4 Evaluation.

She added that, “In addition, a comprehensive analytical theory of character results framework plus road map of SDG4 must be evolved.”

On the Supply side, Saadhna Panday recommended that Massive investment must be made by the government, development partners and the private sector and communities to build sufficient infrastructure, develop and recruit enough teachers and procure sufficient learning materials, considering the huge demographic growth of Nigeria.

On the Demand side, government must address the issue of out-of-school children, a major communication drive should be mounted and equitable conditions established to reduce social and racial barriers to attract children to schools.

 

 

For Quality, She recommended that Government entities at the national and state levels should define learning outcome proficiency benchmarks.

Another thing is Education Financing for which government must Build the political will and incentives necessary to prioritize and increase education financing up to 20% of the budget, by increasing earmarking budget lines both at the and federal levels, so that basic education is truly free as promised by the UBE Act of 2004.

During the field visit to Alkaleri LGA, one of the leading area for out of school children, the Communities decried lack of school infrastructure and poverty as the major factors denying their children access to educational pursuit.

Most of the people who spoke to a team of journalists who were on a field visit to the area to assess the impact of UNICEF intervention lamented that the environment is not conducive to allow for sending their wards to school.

Residents of the communities were unanimous attributing dilapidated school structures, lack of school facilities and poverty as factors contributing to the low enrollment of children in the schools.

The village head of Gumchi Guni, Ali Sarkin Shanu lamented that the only school in the area has become dilapidated over the years and no effort has been made to repair it to allow the children go to school.

According to him him, their children don’t go to school during the rainy season due to the dilapidation of the school building saying that the roof has been blown off thereby making learning not conducive.

“The structure of the school is dilapidated, there is no water storage system, no toilet facilities, no tables and chairs for learning. During the season, our children do not go to school because of the condition of learning is not conducive for them. During that period, they go to farm,” he said.

The traditional ruler however assured that he is ready to embark on mobilization to make the children returned to school as soon as the environment is made conducive for teaching and learning.

He called on the state government and other implementing partners to come to the aid of the community by reconstructing the structure of the school, provide facilities for the school as well as adequate manpower.

At Sabon Gari, one of the Community leaders, Bala Abubakar lamented the issue of out of school children in the area saying that it is becoming alarming particularly among the girls who are seen hawking along the road.

He blamed both government and parents saying that the schools are not in good condition for learning due to lack of teachers and dilapidated structure while the parents are leveraging on that not to send their children to school but to hawk.

As for 40 years old Dahiru Musa Masori, the issue of out of school children has become a menace in the area which needs strong political will to be checked.