‘Poverty, early marriages responsible for poor education standard in Northern Nigeria’

A research commissioned by Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation has revealed that poverty, inadequate infrastructures, inadequate teachers, out of school children, and early marriages are some of the factors responsible for the poor standard of education in Northern Nigeria.

The research, led by a former Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmad Rufai, however, noted that the region is not lacking in quality teachers as 70% of teachers in the north are qualified with at least National Certificate of Education (NCE) and above.

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Speaking during a virtual public presentation of the research work on Thursday, the lead researcher, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai, said the report covers all the 419 local governments in the 19 northern states and the FCT.

She stated that 30% of the local governments were selected to cover all the senatorial zones in all the states, while drawing from conventional and Islamic primary and secondary schools, including single and mixed schools, both public and private.

“Our key findings are that financial condition of parents to cater for their children’s education, early marriage, incentive to promote access to education didn’t get to most parents…”

Chairman of Northern States Governors Forum and Governor of Plateau State, Mr Simon Lalong, represented by Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof. Danladi Abdul, commended the research.

He said: “This legacy, if well carried out, will go a long way to emancipate the north.

“We should cascade the research down to the states for the governors to work on it.”