Stakeholders from four states in the northwest geo-political zone have agreed to work together to tackle the problem of out-of-school children in the region.
The stakeholders, drawn from Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, and Jigawa States, included lawmakers, commissioners, and education secretaries from council areas of participating states.
They took the decision at a two-day regional meeting on out-of-school children, organised by the Katsina State ministry of basic and secondary education in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
UNICEF education specialist, Muntaka Muktar, said the region has the highest number of out-of-school children in the country, with millions never been in school, or dropping out before completing their education.
Muktar identified poverty, insecurity, unemployment, cultural, and religious identities, as some of the factors responsible for an increased number of out-of-school children in the region.
He said there was a need for the participating states to come up with concrete ways to address the situation. He added that a model known as retention, transition, and completion (RTC) would be considered and modified by participants, to suit the needs of their various states in addressing the problem.
Kano State Commissioner for Education, Umaru Doguwa, described the problem of out-of-school children in the region as troubling. Doguwa, however, said a forum would be created by participating states to discuss and articulate ways of addressing the situation in the region.
An education secretary from Batsari council, Katsina State, Dr Salisu Garba, said with the RTC model, his council would work towards improving enrolment in schools, especially for the girl-child.
