Sokoto: BESDA pledges to enrol 300,000 out-of-school children in 4 years

T HE Committee on Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) in Sokoto State says it will enroll no fewer than 300,000 out-of-school children in the state in the next four years.

Alhaji Shu’aibu Gwanda-Gobir, executive chairman, Sokoto State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), gave the assurance while briefing newsmen on Tuesday after the committee’s meeting with the House of Assembly Committee on Education, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

Gwanda-Gobir said that the committee had achieved a lot in training the children, using the Tsangaya learning centres and the employment of qualified facilitators as teachers.

“We have been able to enroll no fewer than 71,000 out-of- school children back in school in our various centres.

“However, our target is to ensure that before the end of the four-year programme of the committee, no fewer than 300,000 out-of-school children are fully enrolled back in school,” he said.

The BESDA chairman, Alhaji Bello Guiwa, noted that the committee was committed to ensuring the success of the programme in the state.

Guiwa, also the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education in Sokoto State, described BESDA as one of the many educational initiatives to address issues related to the out-of -school children.

“In Sokoto State, we have over one million children that are out-of-school. However, with the initiative of the BESDA programme, we have been able to enroll no fewer than 71,000 children in our various centres.

“Moreover, we have already planned under the BESDA programme to establish over 100,000 centres across the 23 local government areas of the state, to enhance our training programme,” he said.

The chairman House Committee on Education, Alhaji Buhari Haliru (PDP- Sokoto North I) said the meeting was part of the assembly’s commitment to ensure proper protection of the people’s mandate.

He said that the assembly would continue to support the programme generously, to enable the state government excel in its commitment to education.

BESDA is a World Bank project initiated to support Nigeria in bringing back out-of-school children into the classrooms.

The bank approved a credit of $611 million for BESDA programme aimed at bringing out-of-school children into classrooms, improve literacy, and strengthen accountability for results in basic education in Nigeria.

 

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