UNICEF partners Southwest states to tackle out-of-school children menace

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has formed partnerships with Southwest states to address the issue of out-of-school children in the region and investigate the core causes of the problem.

UNICEF expressed concern about the number of out-of-school children and emphasised the importance of states to implement the retention, transition, and completion strategy.

According to the international body, during a two-day stakeholders’ meeting on Out-of-School Children (OOSC) Models, Retention Transition and Completion (RTC), and Re-entry Guideline Activities for South-West Nigeria in collaboration with the Oyo State Ministry of Education, efforts must be directed towards developing sustainable solutions to ensure that every child has the opportunity to receive an education.

During a stakeholders’ meeting in Ibadan, Oyo State’s capital, which included Commissioners for Education, the Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), religious leaders, and top civil servants, Oyo State’s Commissioner for Education, Prof. Salihu Abdulwaheed, described the issue of out-of-school children as embarrassing and stressed the importance of dealing with it holistically.

Mr Babagana Aminu, an education specialist with UNICEF, revealed that the issue of schoolchild retention had been one of the major challenges in the Southwest, saying, “In terms of being out of school in the Southwest, almost on average, putting all six states together, according to the multiple cluster indicator survey that was conducted by NBS, it shows that about 8 per cent of children are out of school.”

Mrs. Azuka Menkiti, another UNICEF Education Specialist, advocated for more funding to be allocated to secondary schools, emphasising that “This comes from about 10 years of intervention on girls’ education that has shown successful, tested, and skillable interventions that have been able to help us bring girls to school and keep them in school.”

Dr. Olabimpe Aderiye, Commissioner for Education in Ekiti, emphasised that every state and region has its own unique challenges when it comes to out-of-school children, while Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu, Commissioner for Education, Science, and Technology in Ogun State, stated that his state government was already addressing issues and all factors that were indirectly affecting children.

Mr. Laolu Akindolire, Ondo State’s Commissioner for Education, Science, and Technology, also said all factors causing children to drop out of school had already been addressed in the state.