The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, said Nigeria's education system faces challenges in student retention, transition and completion, particularly in the country's northeast and north-west regions.
UNICEF Bauchi Field Director Tushar Lane spoke at a two-day regional stakeholder meeting on out-of-school children and retention, transition and completion models in Bauchi, Gombe and Adamawa states, saying the situation had improved compared to 10 years. He said it was getting worse. years ago.
He said the situation had worsened over the past decade, with significant numbers of children of primary and secondary school age out of school, totaling 10.2 million and 8.1 million respectively. The situation puts Nigeria at the forefront of global challenges, he said. In education.
“Only 63 per cent of primary school children attend school regularly. According to the 2021 Multi-Indicator Cluster Survey, only 84 per cent of children effectively transition to secondary education after primary school. “Of the 5.9 million children who start the first year of primary school each year, less than 50 per cent, or about 2.4 million, continue to the end of the third year of secondary school,” he said.
In his speech, Gombe State Universal Basic Education Board Director Yawozi Ahmed Bala cited factors such as early marriage, peer pressure and social norms as reasons for the high number of out-of-school children.
DAILY POST reports that the stakeholder meeting aims to improve enrollment rates, especially for adolescent girls and boys in secondary education, reduce the number of out-of-school children, increase retention rates, transition rates, and completion rates. The aim was to gather collective commitment to develop and implement strategies to improve rates.
The meeting, which was attended by state education commissioners and state SUBEB secretaries, highlighted the urgent need for concerted efforts to address the challenges of Nigeria's education landscape.
