The Nasarawa State Government has directed the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, to commence an advocacy campaign across the state to ensure that children of school age who are out of school return to the classroom.

The government also said it was considering the establishment of mobile courts to prosecute parents whose children are found loitering on the streets during school hours.

The Senior Special Assistant to Governor Abdullahi Sule on Public Affairs, Mr Peter Ahemba, disclosed this on Wednesday during his bi-monthly media briefing in Lafia.

Ahemba said the government had directed SUBEB to collaborate with the state Ministry of Justice on the possibility of establishing mobile courts to handle cases involving parents who fail to send their children to school.

He said the government would first embark on an advocacy campaign before commencing full enforcement.

According to him, a task force would subsequently be established to monitor the streets and identify school-age children found outside school during school hours.

He said the task force would trace the parents of such children, who could subsequently be prosecuted for failing to ensure that their children attend school.

“Because at the end of that advocacy tour by the State Universal Basic Education Board to ensure that our children of school age who are not in school are back to school, after that grace period of advocacy, government will now commence full enforcement.

“There will be a task force that will be charged with the responsibility to go around the streets. When such children are identified during school hours, they will be held to identify their parents.

“By the time they identify their parents, those parents will now be arrested and handed over for prosecution for failure to send their children to school,” Ahemba said.

He said the initiative was aimed at ensuring that no child in Nasarawa State was denied the opportunity to acquire education and addressing the rising number of out-of-school children.

Ahemba said parents would have no excuse for keeping their children out of school, noting that the government was also providing educational materials to support families and encourage school enrolment.

He disclosed that SUBEB had procured more than 10,000 exercise books, school uniforms and sandals, among other learning materials, for distribution to pupils in public schools across the state.

“In the same token, the state government, through the State Universal Basic Education Board, has procured over 10,000 exercise books and over 10,000 school uniforms, over 10,000 sandals, among other school materials, to be distributed to pupils across the public schools in Nasarawa State,” he said.