UNICEF, South-West States to Address Out-Of-School Children Menace

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the six state governments in the South-West Nigeria have expressed strong determination to jointly tackle out-of-school children crisis in the geo-political zone and bring the menace to a barest minimum within a possible shortest time.

The global agency partnering with all the six state governments, comprising Lagos, Oyo, Ekiti, Osun, Ogun, and Ondo, raised the concern, promising to commit energies and other human and material resources necessary to combat the menace.

They renewed the commitment at the just concluded two-day regional stakeholders’ meeting on Out-of-School Children, Retention, Transition, and Completion of secondary education for children in the region.

The meeting, put together by UNICEF in conjunction with the Oyo State Ministry of Education and held in Ibadan, the state capital, has the state Commissioners for Education from the region, Chairmen of State Universal Basic Education Board lawmakers, civil society groups, religious and community leaders, as well as newsmen from across print, broadcast and online media, in attendance.

Speaking at the forum, UNICEF Chief of Lagos Field Office, Mr Mohammed Okorie, said even though cases of out-of-school children may not be as serious in the southwest as in other zones, what matters most is to ensure that every Nigerian child of school age irrespective of where they live nationwide is not only going to school which should be free but must also stay and complete their education to at least senior secondary school and even transit to higher education.

According to him, it is the right education that will equip a child with the requisite knowledge and skills to thrive and live responsibly as a citizen.

He said this background captures the essence and focus of the stakeholders’ meeting to enable key drivers to re-strategise their efforts in taking out-of-school children off the streets of the six states in the zone, get them enrolled in schools, and ensure they stay and complete their learning to senior school level.

He said UNICEF would want state governments and other stakeholders in the region to embark on the journey together.

Giving an overview of the reality of out-of-school children across the six states,  Mr Babagana Aminu, an education specialist with UNICEF Nigeria, declared that it is not that children in the Southwest region are actually not enrolling in school for formal education but it is more burdensome that significant percentage of them do not wait to complete their secondary school education let alone transit to higher level.

According to him, up to eight percent of school-age children in the zone on average, according to the Multiple Cluster Indicator Survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics (a federal government agency) in 2021, are not in school for one reason or the other.

Even though this figure to UNICEF is on the high side as the target is zero percent, he said more worrisome data has to do with retention and sustenance of those enrolled in schools up to senior secondary and ensuring they are equipped with knowledge and skills that will make them thrive and compete favourably with their peers globally.

He argued that a situation like this meant that children who are either not in junior secondary school or not transit to senior school or dropped out at any class are certainly out of school, facing uncertain future.

He said something in form of right action must be taken fast by stakeholders with respective state governments taking the lead either alone or collaboratively with other states to reverse the trend.

Corroborating him, Mrs Azuka Menkiti, who is also an education specialist with UNICEF, spoke on how the region can effectively overcome the menace.

According to her, even though out-of-school children’s data in the South-west region varies from state to state and with each state using different approaches as suitable to address their issue, each state now needs to strengthen its systems, expand access and improve infrastructures including teachers’ capacity building and funding for children to be in school and also accessing real learning.

Referring to those in the adolescent stage, Menkiti said latest findings showed that while 92 per cent of adolescents in the South-west region complete primary school, only 85% manage to complete secondary education.

She argued that even though the 15 percent gap may look small, there are hundreds of thousands of children on the streets doing things not meant for their ages.

“So, it is important that efforts are geared towards taking them off the streets and enrol them in school and ensure they stay and complete their education and acquire right knowledge and skills that will help them to thrive now and, in the future,” she stressed.

While stating that the adverse consequences of leaving children on the streets are huge and also dire to society, Menkiti particularly mentioned that girl child is more vulnerable in this regard.

According to her, some of the adolescent girls, who are mistakenly impregnated are usually dropped out of school and never return to their studies just because they lack support from schools, families, and the society at large.

She said such children do not deserve to be treated in that manner but rather receive support.

She emphasised that this does not mean that such support is to promote or encourage teenage pregnancy, but an indication to show that its occurrence is not a death sentence.

“So, teenage girls who get impregnated halfway into their studies will need to continue with their studies, complete it and pursue their life ambitions because leaving them alone or castigating them will not help but cause more havoc to them and society,” she stressed.

Giving remarks at the event, the Commissioner for Education, Oyo State, Prof. Salihu Abdulwaheed, acknowledged the huge out-of-school children gap in the region, decrying the situation more than Southwest is traditionally being referred to as an educational advantaged region.

While attributing the development largely to the influx of young children into the region, he mentioned that the Oyo State Ministry of the Environment is working on integrating out-of-school children in the state into schools or vocational training centres.

He promised that the state and the region by extension would now be more committed to the cause by finding a better way of addressing the menace.

In his own contribution, the Lagos State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr Jamiu Alli-Balogun, in a sideline interview with Nigerian Tribune, also pointed out that it is not only worrisome but very embarrassing that the southwest region has a huge out-of-school children population even at this period of knowledge economy.

He traced the challenge to multiple factors particularly the influx of school-age children from other regions and neighbouring countries on daily basis to South-west and Lagos State in particular.

Making reference to Lagos, the commissioner said the state is on minute- by- minute-by-minute-by-minute-by-minute-by-minute basis, witnessing a large number of migrants, who are school-going age children with the majority of them having no clear mission.

He said even at that, the state government is still factoring in them in its plans to provide free and quality education for every child who lives in the state, using different approaches including the Zero Project or Leave No Child Behind model to address the concern.

He, however, pointed out that even though those policies are there including Child Rights Law, there is one critical challenge threatening all efforts geared towards addressing out-of-school children effectively not only in the state but across Nigeria in general.

“That is lack of childbirth control,” he declared, noting that until such a law, limiting number of children to be born by every couple to few, is enacted by the Federal Government and enforced, the efforts to address out-of-school children may continue to be frustrated.

According to him, there are many parents, especially from other regions and neighbouring countries who are not willing let alone ready to release their children for education no matter the attraction and encouragement given.

“That is why we need birth control law in Nigeria to effectively support the fight against out-of-school children in every part of the country,” he concluded.