777,160, Children Are Out Of School In Bauchi-UNICEF

Logpobiri Anaiya

No fewer than 777,160 children out of the 1,289,005 population in Bauchi State are out of school, a UNICEF Global Initiative on out of school children study in six selected northern states has said.

The State Education Consultant for Girls Education Project , GEP3, Saleh Mohammed stated this during a state level pre-planning meeting on enrollment drive campaign organized by UNICEF in collaboration with the State Universal Basic Education Board, (SUBEB) in Bauchi.

Presenting a paper, entitled “Why enrollment drive campaign and the role of SBMCs in promoting enrollment of girls in schools”  Mohammed said that at the Junior Secondary School level in the state, 245,469 children were out of school, representing 65.4%.

He said that 531,691 children at the primary level in the state are out school, representing 58.2%, adding that the large number of out of school children in Northern Nigeria has been a concern to stakeholders and development partners.

“Of the Primary aged out of school children, 74% are expected to never enter school while 5% are classified as drop-outs”

“Community household mapping and listing research conducted by UNICEF in 2012/ 2013 reveals that socio cultural attitudes towards education and girls as well as poverty, account for why many children are out of school” He said

The State Education Consultant said that to address issues of out of school children in the north, UNICEF designed the enrollment drive campaign as one it key intervention for increasing access to basic education.

He noted that enrollment drive campaign was a strategy to bring out of school children into school as well as achieving the goal for enrolling additional one million girls in school.