Pressure mounts on reps to amend basic education Act

Interest groups are exerting pressure to influence members of the House of Representatives to amend the 2004 Universal Basic Education Act.

The groups including Connected Development (CODE), Malala Fund and Jamuje Nigeria, agreed that by amending the Act, the number out-of-school children would appreciably reduce.

Chief Executive of CODE, Hamza Lawal, said at a media briefing on Tuesday in Abuja that the Act which provided for a compulsory free education to children for 9 years hasn’t succeeded in returning children of school age back to classrooms over the years.

Instead, due to pressure, inflation, population rising cost of living and limited political will, Nigeria has witnessed the explosion of school dropout children, he said.

Mr. Hamza said the Senate had in 2017 amended the Act from 9 to 12 years but regrettably, the House of Representatives have not amended the Act.

Farida Yahaya of Jamuje Nigeria also said increasing the age limit for the provision of free education to 12 years would create more jobs and mitigate negative behaviors noting that states’ matching grants for UBE funds should be reduced to at least 40 per cent.

Education and Finance Consultant of Malala Fund, Aderibigbe Femi said majority of the 8.7 out-of-school kids in Nigeria were girls and girls’ education could improve if the Act is amended.