Wife of the Rivers State Governor, Dame Judith Amaechi has stated that recent statistics reveal that over 10 million children in Nigeria are said to be out of school due to financial difficulty.

The governors wife who spoke to newsmen during the flag off of the Empowerment Support Initiative (ESI) Nursery Schools said, apart from the school dropouts in the country, children without early nursery education are more vulnerable to withdraw from school early due to the challenges they face in the society.

According to her, the ESI has initiated early education in 319 wards in Rivers State and 50 wards currently in academic session, adding that the Akuku-Toru Local Government  Area is the first Riverine area to benefit from such scheme.

“The ESI Nursery Schools will enable the children have proper foundation and build their morale which in turn will enable them fit into the Model Primary and Secondary schools in the state. 

While stating the benefits of early education of the girl child, Dame Amaechi said “each year a girl is in school is a progressive step toward eliminating poverty, ensuring reduction of infant and maternal mortality, advancing sustainable human development and controlling preventive diseases as well as stopping the spread of HIV/AID thus directly or indirectly contributing to the attainment of 7 out of the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

She continued, “educating girls is therefore considered as a non negotiable tool for the attainment of the MGDs and should therefore be a state and indeed a national priority.

On his part, the ESI Administrator, Nowa Omoregbe disclosed that over 1900 pupils have registered in the ESI model nursery schools in five LGAs and expressed optimism that ESI will flag off ESI nursery in other LGAs soon.