The Federal Government has disclosed that the number of out-of-school children has reduced by 3,247,590 to 6,946,328, compared to 10.1 million it was in May 2019.
The FG disclosed this in a statement on Monday evening as it stated in a tweet post, “The Federal Government of Nigeria has achieved a reduction in the figure of Out-of-School children in the country by 3,247,590 — from 10.1 million in May 2019 down to 6,946,328 as at 31st December 2020.”
It added that the result is an outcome of recorded impressive school enrolment figures in all the 17 states of the Federation where the World Bank-supported “BETTER EDUCATION SERVICE DELIVERY FOR ALL” (BESDA) programme is being implemented.
“This 3,247,590 reduction is made up of 1,792,833 through formal schools while 1,454,757 are through nonformal interventions such as Almajiri, Girl Child, Nomadic/migrant and IDPs/Education in emergencies, as confirmed by the National Population Commission and the NBS,” the government added.
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What you should know
- Nairametrics reported last week that the Federal Government started work on the Alternative School Programme (ASP), a special education initiative designed to engage out-of-school children nationwide.
- “We have just commenced work on an Alternate School Programme (ASP) as a special education initiative targeting out-of-school children nationwide. We must and will ensure that no Nigerian child is left behind in terms of appropriate basic education,” President Buhari said.
- In December, a World Bank survey revealed that 45% of school-aged household members (aged 5-18 years) did not engage in any education or learning activities since mid-March 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown.
