Stakeholders Hold National Enrolment Drive Planning Meeting In Kaduna …..to Tackle Out Of School Children Challenge in Nigeria
By Alex Uangbaoje, Kaduna
Following recent revelation by Federal Ministry of Education that, over 10 million Nigeria children are out of school and constitute over 50% of the global of out of school population, relevant stakeholders are holding strategic meeting to develop modalities for 2017 enrolment campaign as part of efforts to build collective responsibility to change the tide.
The meeting is also expected to agree on roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders and develop and endorse plans, messages and budgets.
Prominent among the participants at the 4-day meeting include speakers from ten states namely Adamawa, Bauchi, Katsina, Niger, Zamfara, Sokoto, Yobe, Borno, Kebbi and Ebonyi States, members of executive councils, State Commissioners of Education, State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Federal Ministry of Education, Universal Basic Commission (UBEC) National Mass Education Commission ,National Commission for Nomadic Education (NCNE) and National Population Commission (NPC).
The meeting which is organized by UNICEF in collaboration with Federal Ministry of Education and UBEC Abuja is with the message ‘enrol your child in school today for a better tomorrow ‘.
Speaking on the meeting, Honourable Murtala Adamu who is the SUBEB chairman Zamfara State and doubles as Dean SUBEB chairmen lamented that Nigeria accounts for about 50 percent of out of school children worldwide with the North accounting for about 40 percent of that number.
He stressed the need for positive legislation and enforcement to do away with street begging and reduce to the barest minimum out of school children in Nigeria.
Also speaking, Alhaji Bello Kagara director social mobilization UBEC, said the states government needs to be more committed towards ensuring adequate funding and social re-engineering in terms of value for education.
On his part, the Deputy Speaker Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Honourable Odefa Obasi Odefa disclosed that his state has domesticated the Child Right Act, adding that enrolment of children in school is sacrosanct and should not be compromised.
While calling on all tears of government to synergise, he also advocated that state of emergency be declared in the education sector. The meeting ends today.
