TACKLING OUT OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN NIGERIA

 

 

 

TACKLING OUT OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN NIGERIA

                            By Adeleke Adebola

                                            photo credit: Dubawa

    Looking at education in this way, this is life, transformation, an open future and above all, a collective construction of a society that aspires to become an expression of the best intentions of human beings. If we are talking of poverty, insecurity, out of school children and so on, where we should begin, it is education. Education should be one of the priorities of children and right of every children, UNICEF Survey showed that the population of out of school children in Nigeria had risen from 10.5 million to 13.2 million. In Nigeria, we have 36 states out of the 36 states, 17 states in the country with the highest number of out of school children and 14 are in the north. Gender, geography and others factors like poverty are contributing factor to the role of out of school children in Nigeria. In Nigeria’s northern states, average attendance of gender is at 47.7% such factors includes climate induced economic impendent (e.g crop failure), socio- cultural norms that discourage of the girl child. According to the recent UNICEF statistics, Nigeria is the highest country in the world with the highest number of out of school children (including that of the girl child).

     Unfortunately, in Nigeria’s eastern state where insurgency and militancy parades itself in form of the Boko haram conflict, 2.8 million children are in new of education- in- emergencies support in the affected states. According to UNICEF Nigeria, in the states at least 802 school remain closed and 407 classrooms are listed as destroyed with another 392 damaged but repairable. The state of Nigeria educational systems ridden with high illiteracy rate, infrastructural decay and low fondling (below the international standard). Despite the progress in recent generations in Nigeria, little is achieved in settling millions of children out of school. With the repeated lockdown, the number of out of school children has risen over. In some parts of Nigeria, almost half (50%) are deprived of education as compare to 8% of the children in other parts of the world (on average).

     Attacks on schools, abductions and killings of school children demonstrate an absolute disregards for the life and right of education. The children are scared of going to school, because of the insecurity in the country. The future of thousands of school children in Nigeria remains blink as hundreds of schools in some states have been closed indefinitely due to rising insecurity. 

     Attacks on schools are the violation of international law and the authorities must ensure that these attacks are properly investigated and alleged perpetrators bought to justices and fair trials without recourse to the death penalty. The insecurity, child marriage, climate change, out of school children in Nigeria should have drawn the attention of its leaders to stand up and do the needful towards addressing it.

Email address: adebolaoladosu11@gmail.com


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