NIEPA steps up efforts to achieve SDG goals

THE National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) has stepped up efforts to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) in the country for gainful transformation. THENIEPA Director General, Prof. Lilian Salami who addressed participants at a five-day training programme for head teachers and policy makers on girl education at the institute headquarters in Ondo State lamented that the sector is bedevilled with a lot of challenges, revealing that “one third of all girls amounting to over 5.5 million school age girls are out of school in Nigeria.

“Net enrolment rates for girls at primary level are five per cent lower than for boys; gross enrolment at junior secondary school level follows this trend. Both figures hover around 50 per cent. This falls far short of the target SDGS.”

She added that data reveals very little progress in universal access to primary schooling in the last decade, listing series of factors militating against the achievements of the continental and global goals.

“Gender disparities in access to basic education are compounded by interrelated regional, wealth and residence inequalities in access and completion,” she said. Prof. Salami said there is an urgent need to address the lack of personnel and infrastructure without leaving the challenges in access and career development.