Getting ‘out-of-school children’ back to school

From records, this year alone, Nigeria aims to bring about 3 million out-of-school children back into the education system. The focus is to bring these children into formal education and provide vocational training to prepare them for productive roles in society. The government is also working to decentralise its operations by establishing state offices for the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education. Moreover, a budget of N50 billion has been proposed to support these programmes, according to the 2025 Appropriation Bill.

 “Based on the findings, the study therefore recommends that technical and vocational education needs to receive enough funding and that all hands must be on deck to address the enormous security challenges so that we can all live in a better country where peace and tranquillity rule.

According to the United Nations Children Agency (UNICEF), in 2024, Nigeria has 18.3 million children shut out of school by worsening insecurity and accelerating poverty in Africa’s most populous nation. In this figure, one in three children is out of school in Nigeria: 10.2 million at the primary level and 8.1 million at the junior secondary school (JSS) level. 12.4 million children never attended school, and 5.9 million left school early, and sadly, Nigeria’s out-of-school population accounts for 15 per percent of the global total.

Looking at this figure, a disproportionate number are in the Northern region; the North-East region specifically has the highest percentage in both primary and secondary school ages and a higher percentage of girls than boys.

In October 2024, the Nigerian Senate called a national summit to address the distress to self and menace to society posed by Nigeria’s estimated 10.2 million out-of-school children and find a solution to it.

The decision followed the submission of the report of the Committee on Basic and Secondary Education on the worrisome phenomenon of out-of-school children.

Juxtaposing the above figure with the unemployment rate projected for 2025, which is 4.84 per percent, it indicates that 3.9 million Nigerians are expected to be unemployed, according to Statista.

Both statistics are then interwoven, as a lack of education and skills will directly result in unemployment and unemployability. Sociologists say that as the lack of education and skills trends into unemployment, so does unemployment often trend into social misconduct.

A recent study attributes Nigeria’s mounting security challenges mostly to unemployment, illiteracy and poverty and suggests that a strong vocational education push will engage the youth gainfully and take their minds away from the devil’s workshop of waywardness, crime and mayhem.

Read also: 30,000 out-of-school children return to schools in Lagos – Official

The study reveals that vocational education can play a vital role in reducing security challenges in the country as well as reducing poverty and unemployment by equipping youths with necessary skills.

Based on the findings, the study therefore recommends that technical and vocational education needs to receive enough funding and that all hands must be on deck to address the enormous security challenges so that we can all live in a better country where peace and tranquillity rule.

The report further states that the promotion of community and national development, including the maintenance of security, is greatly aided by vocational and technical education.

A country’s social and economic contributions to its development and security are crucial, as they have long-term and telling consequences for good or for bad. National progress and development are threatened by insecurity, which has reached an unprecedented level in Nigeria in recent times.

The government has been devoting a sizable portion of the national budget to security for a number of years. Yet, with all of the government’s efforts, insecurity continues to generate significant concern across the board. For the effective containment of insecurity and the escalation of social and economic wellbeing of citizens and the nation, we must not neglect the value and shortcut that vocational training offers.

For instance, many of the said out-of-school children who have left the regular education system will find it difficult to get back to school. Vocational education, however, offers a willing option for linking back into the economic value chain.

The National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM) says it is refocusing attention on vocational education for the country’s teeming youth, as this will enhance value delivery in the economy and beef up job opportunities by as much as 70 per percent going forward – this is a comforting development.

Olushola Odusanya, director-general of NACETEM, last year observed, however, that revamping vocational education in the country would require strategic investment and the delivery of quality training, backed by requisite certificates and accreditations.

The acquisition of vocational skills is essential, especially for people who do not have a high level of formal education but require some form of skills, he said.

Placing the magnitude of the out-of-school children statistic, the level of unemployment and the attendant security challenge the trend poses beside the speedy and quality manpower upgrading and engagement that vocational education offers. We know the government would do well to give adequate attention and funding to this prospect.