Stakeholders have urged the National Assembly to amend the Universal Basic Education Act.
The present Act provides free, quality and compulsory education up to nine years.
They made the call during the advocacy and partnership meeting organized by Youthhub Africa in Abuja for the civil society organizations coalition, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), members of the House of Representatives and other stakeholders .
Executive Director, Youth Hub Africa, Rotimi Olawale, said it was important for the eight assembly to fast-rack the amendment of the Act considering the huge number of out of school children in the country.
He said: “The amendment we are pursuing in universal basic education is to extend free education from 9 years to 12 years, that is to extend it from primary 1 to Junior Secondary School (JSS 3) to Senior Secondary School (SSS 3).”
Olawale said this would ensure that that more resources were allocated to basic education, improve teachers’ quality and ensure access to basic education.
Consultant to Malala Fund, Femi Aderibigbe, said the Fund was working with other local partners to resolve issues preventing children from going to school up to 12 years and causing an estimated 10.2 million out-of-school children in the country.
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