Stakeholders unite to tackle out-of-school children syndrome in North East

Stakeholders in the education sector from Adamawa, Bauchi and Gombe states have converged in Gombe to collaboratively tackle the issue of out-of-school children in the North East sub-region.

The two-day session, supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), sought to formulate effective strategies aimed at mitigating the prevalence of out-of-school children to enhance retention, progression and completion rates in secondary education.

Addressing the participants, UNICEF’s Bauchi Field Officer, Dr Tushar Rene, said 10.2 million primary school-age children and 8.1 million junior secondary school-age children were currently out of school across Nigeria.

He, therefore, said there was an urgent need for collaboration between stakeholders to reverse the trend, especially in the northern part of the country.

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He identified inadequate policy planning, budget allocation, teacher shortages, poor infrastructure and cultural norms as some of the obstacles hindering education in the country.

Gombe State Commissioner for Education, Dr Aishatu Umar Maigari, said the issue of out-of-school children had become a pressing concern in the state.

Dr Maigari added that there are approximately 50,000 out-of-school children in the state, “with a worrisome trend of 50 per cent of school children not completing primary education, 52 per cent not completing junior secondary school, and 51 per cent not completing senior secondary school.”