Minister asks Bayelsa lawmakers to prioritise compulsory education bill

The Minister of State for Education, Goodluck Nana Opia, has appealed to Bayelsa State lawmakers to give the compulsory education bill accelerated passage to help tackle the out-of-school children menace in the state.

The minister made the appeal on Tuesday at the flag-off ceremony of the national campaign on out-of-school children in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, the director, Press and Public Relations in the ministry, Ben Bem Goong, said in a statement.

The compulsory education bill seeks to make it compulsory for every parent and guardian to send their children to school in order to rid Bayelsa of out-of-school children and school dropouts.

Under the bill, parents of children of school age (6-18 years) who are out of school will be arrested and prosecuted.

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The minister said 60 per cent of out-of-school children in Bayelsa State were girls and that the federal government, through the Universal Basic Education (UBEC) was assisting states to strengthen basic education by confronting factors denying children early education, including extreme poverty, ignorance and access to education, among others.

Speaking at the event, the Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri, said education remained the first, second and third priorities of his administration, even as he announced that there were 250,000 out-of-school children in the state.