FG Plans to Reduce Out-of-School Children to 7% by 2034, Says Minister

Funmi Ogundare

The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, yesterday, stated the federal government’s readiness to reduce the number of out-of school children to 7 per cent by 2034 and ensure that at least 50 per cent of children demonstrate proficiency in reading and numeracy at the basic level.

Prof. Mamman disclosed this at the 67th National Council on Education (NCE) meeting themed, ‘Addressing the Challenges of Policy Implementation: A Panacea for the Achievement of Education 2030 Agenda’, was held by the Lagos State government in collaboration with his ministry.

It was aimed at examining the critical issues that affect policy implementation in education putting into focus effective strategies that can lead to the attainment of education 2030 agenda, national growth and development.

He stated that it would by next year roll out its implementation plans in collaboration with development partners such as UNICEF, World Bank and UNESCO.

The Minister quoted a World Bank report, saying that 13 million children aged 6 to14 (25% OOS rate) are out of school. His words: “This portrays Nigeria among the nations with the largest number of out-of-school children globally. In the same vein, only 25 per cent of children in the same age group are proficient in reading and numeracy while 39 million children cannot read and write.”

He stressed the need for an improvement in strengthening the system and service delivery at the basic education level, adding, “the interventions and initiatives of development partners such as the World Bank, UNICEF, and UNESCO targeted funding and conditional transfer initiatives have helped to reduce the number of out-of-school children, skills and literacy improvement. Although these interventions have led to a considerable increase in enrolment, infrastructure and quality of service delivery, we still need to re-examine the system critically and proffer workable solutions.

“It is a right for every Nigerian child to have access to basic education and part of our responsibility is to ensure that every child of school age attends basic education.”

Mamman explained that the theme was apt and that all stakeholders must dedicate themselves to their responsibilities and ensure that all education programmes attract the necessary resources to make the system work.

This, he noted would ensure the effective implementation of educational policies across levels.

“To achieve this, we must identify our challenges and adopt global best practices to make our education system relevant, effective and responsive to the needs of individuals and the nation.”

In his remarks, the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, expressed hope that the state of the education sector will change significantly in such a way that will be beneficial to the development of country with the review of policies and elimination of bottlenecks to their implementation.

The theme of this meeting, he noted, is very apt and consistent with the state’s advocacy for pragmatic approach to policy formulation and implementation in education and its constant review in order to align it with changing realities and national development priorities.

He explained that the state has over the years, implemented policies on school safety by collaborating with the security Nigerian Security and Civil to establish a school patrol, making schools conducive, enduring, easy access to education, among others.