Out-of-school Children in Nigeria Now 18.3 Million – UNICEF

UNICEF has expressed concern over the growing number of children in Nigeria who are not attending school, which, according to it, has reached 18.3 million, making Nigeria the country with the highest number of out-of-school children worldwide.

Dr. Tushar Rane, Chief of the Bauchi Field Office, shared this information during a two-day Regional Stakeholders Engagement Meeting in Gombe on Out-of-School Children and Retention, Transition, and Completion Models in Bauchi, Gombe, and Adamawa states.

Dr. Tushar highlighted that only 63% of primary school-aged children attend school regularly, stating that there’s a concerning dropout rate, as only 84% of children transition to junior secondary education after primary school.

He attributed this problem to various factors like inadequate policies, limited budgets, teacher shortages, infrastructure issues, cultural norms, health concerns, and child labor.

To address this, UNICEF said it is working with the Universal Basic Education Commission to create a “National Framework of Action to Reduce the Number of Out-of-School Children in Nigeria” and education models focusing on retention and completion.

During the meeting, UNICEF said it aims to develop strategies specifically tailored to each state to reduce the number of out-of-school children and improve retention and completion rates in secondary schools.

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