10m Out-Of- School Children: Minister Makes Case For Basic Education

With the nation’s number of Out-Of-School Children hitting 10 million,  the Minister of Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba has stressed the need for the strengthening of the Basic Education in the country.
Nwajiuba stated this during the Launching of the Better Education Service Delivery for All(BESDA), organised by the Jigawa State Government, in Dutse, at the weekend.
Nwajiuba noted that one of the ways to tackle this outrageous number of Out-Of-School Children was to strengthen the quality of basic education in the country by confronting head-on those factors that deny the children access to education.
Nwajiuba revealed that the number was the highest in the Sub-Saharan Africa and stressed the need for stakeholders in the sector to strengthen the quality of education by addressing the factors that impede on the children’s access to basic education.
The minister said”, with an estimated 10,193,918 children out -of-school, Nigeria has the highest number in the Sub-Saharan Africa. For us to address these challenges adequately therefore, we must strengthen the quality of basic education in Nigeria by confronting head-on those factors that deny our children access to basic education”.
Nwajiuba noted that the BESDA programme was designed to result in better life for children with the aim of increasing equitable access for Out-Of-School Children, improve literacy and strengthen accountability for results at the basic education level in the focus states.
He revealed that the programme focused on 17 states which included the entire 13 states of the North West and North East geographical zones as well as Rivers, Ebonyi, Niger and Oyo.
While noting that the selection of the states was based on the prevalence of the number of Out-Of-School Children in the country, the minister said all key activities at the federal level to kick start implementation of the programme by focus states have been concluded.
“Each beneficiary state is therefore expected to commence implementation in line with the specific steps and guidelines provided under the programme” Nwajiuba said.