Nigeria’s Out-Of-School-Children Malaise Lingers

The issue of out of school children has remained one of the problems bedevilling the growth of the education sector in the country, writes Ugo Aliogo

Education of children, particularly girls, is a fundamental human right. According to a 2014 report on Girls Education in Nigeria by the British Council, educated women are less likely to die in childbirth and more likely to have healthy and well-nourished children than their non-educated counterparts.

A child born to a literate mother is 50 percent more likely to survive past the age of five, the report stated. In Nigeria, 66 percent of mothers with secondary education gives birth in a health facility, compared to 11 percent’s, with no education.

A United Nation Children Education Fund (UNICEF) report stated that primary school enrolment in Nigeria has increased in recent years, but that net attendance is only about 70 per cent. The UNICEF, however, demurred, saying Nigeria still has 10.5 million out-ofschool children - the world’s highest number, and that 60 per cent of those children are in the northern region.

It explained that about 60 per cent of those in the out of school children (OOSC) category are girls, and that many of those who enrolled often drop out early. It stated further that there are low perceptions of the value of education for girls and that early marriages are among the reasons.

The report added, “Some northern states have laws requiring education of girls and prohibiting their withdrawal from school. Girls’ primary school attendance has been improving, but this has not been the case for girls from the poorest households.

“Increased enrolment rates have created challenges in ensuring quality education, as resources are spread more thinly. It is not rare to see cases where there are 100 pupils for one teacher, or where students learn under trees because of a lack of classrooms.

“In north-eastern Nigeria, conflict has deprived many children of access to education. Teachers have been killed and schools burned down or closed for security reasons.”

According to the United Nations Africa Renewal magazine report, Africa’s current primary school enrolment rate is above 80 per cent on the average, with the continent recording some of the biggest increases in elementary school enrolment globally in the last few decades. It was inferred in the report that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which is tasked with coordinating international cooperation in education, science, culture and communication, noted that more children in Africa are going to school than ever before.

The report explained that the Africa Union (AU) keeping in mind that the continent’s population would double in the next 25 years, is seeking through its Continental Education Strategy for Africa (2016–2025) to expand access not just to quality education, but also to education that is relevant to the needs of the continent.

However, the administration of President Buhari recently claimed that it had made significant efforts to reduce the number of OOSC from 10.5 to 8.6 million in the last three years.

The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, described the drop to the efforts made by the Federal Government in implementing the enrolment drive policy and school feeding programme.

A representative of the United Nations Population Fund, Nigeria (UNPA) stated that Nigeria’s OOSC population is the largest in the world and that it is next to Pakistan, adding, “Of the 10.5 million out-of-school children in Nigeria today, over 5.5 million are girls.”

The representative explained that girls from the poorest families in rural areas of the North-West and North-East regions were among those most at risk of never attending school, adding that owing to the security challenges in those parts of the country, numerous children currently have no access to schools, particularly the northeast.

She further stated that schools have been closed for security reasons, and where schools in the affected areas still function, children and teachers are often afraid to attend.

She added that in comparatively safe areas in the northeast, schools are often overcrowded, understaffed and have insufficient teaching materials, “due to the violence, many parents are unwilling to enroll their daughters or are withdrawing those already in school.”

According to her, “40 percent women and 28 percent men have never attended school (Nigeria Population Commission 2009). Nearly two-thirds of women in the Northwest and Northeast regions have no education, compared to less than 15 percent in the South-south.

“The net enrolment rate at primary school level is 56 percent for girls and 61 percent for boys (UNESCO, 2014). Drop-out rates are highest at the sixth grade of primary school and higher among girls than boys. (NPC 2009).

“There is commitment on the part of government to address this issue as interventions have been put in place. It is obvious that there are good local policies and collaborative and sustained interventions but there is still much to be done especially in northern Nigeria which accounts for high numbers with the insurgency.

“The uneducated girl in Nigeria experience poverty, gross violations of rights and genderbased violence, at risk of teenage pregnancy and forced early marriage, face major impediments to accessing information, youth friendly and social services and employment opportunities.

“A situation analysis needs to be done to assess the current status of OOSG in Nigeria. It is from the situation analysis report that stakeholders can come up with a policy and its implementation frame work which will address facilitators of OOSG and priority areas with evidence based interventions.”

One of the Civil Society Organisations (CSO) which have been playing pivotal roles in the issue of OOSG in the country is Action Health Incorporated (AHI). Speaking on the issue, the Executive Director, AHI, Mrs. Adenike Essiet, said the enormity of the problem far outweighed the efforts that were being made by AHI and other CSOs to resolve it.

She explained that a variety of factors are responsible for the continuing high numbers of OOSC in the country, adding that the most nagging of these factors remain poverty, gender inequality and negative socio cultural norms “and these impacts not just access and enrolment, but also retention, completion and transitioning of pupils.”

She added that addressing these issues required concerted multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder actions, beyond the current state of affairs.

Essiet further stated that the United Nations and allied agencies in the country have continued work to facilitate the translation of global education-related policy initiatives and support host governments in their programme implementation efforts to test innovative, promising and best practices in line with the respective government’s policy aspirations.

According to Essiet, “the UN agencies cannot be a replacement to our governments ‘efforts in ensuring that investments are made for every child to have access to education. At the national and state levels, the current social investment programmes of government especially, the Home Grown School Feeding Programme is one of the very laudable efforts aimed at improving school enrolment and retention in the public education sector. “A state such as Lagos also has the Child’s Rights Law (CRL) which sets out the right of every child to be in school, free from physical, mental or emotional injury, abuse, neglect or maltreatment, including sexual abuse and provides a robust framework for child protection in the state.

“A good number of CSOs are also engaged in efforts to improve education indices in Nigeria. Action Health Incorporated for instance, has worked in the education, health and youth development sector since 1989, but we became involved in the raising public consciousness and catalysing government action on the issues affecting marginalised and out-of-school adolescent girls in 2010, following a study conducted in poorly resourced slum communities in Lagos State.

“Since then, we have partnered with the Lagos State Government to articulate and enhance its 10-year ‘Plan of Action to Empower Marginalized Adolescent Girls for 2016-2025’. This policy document presents a roadmap to guide programmes of cooperation with development partners and stakeholders on practical actions to improve the wellbeing of this segment of the population.

“AHI has also mobilised resources from various donor agencies to implement initiatives to empower over 8,000 out-of-school girls from various communities within Lagos and Ogun State. However, in relation to the magnitude of the problem of out-of-school children, current government and CSO efforts are in urgent need of scaling-up.”

Addressing the Challenge

Essiet, noted that in addressing the challenge, there is need for increased awareness creation about the importance of education, particularly girl-child education, stating that a higher proportion of children out-of-school children in the country are females.

She explained that within states and communities where child marriage is prevalent, policies and programmes should exist to ensure that girls are retained in school till they complete secondary education, “urgent and resolute actions need to be taken to end child marriage in our country.”

She added: “Beyond making basic education tuition- free, strategies need to be in place to address the ‘ hidden costs’ of schooling. It is common knowledge that even in the Nigerian free education policy context, many children and their families still have to contend with a range of schooling- related costs.

“Some of these include the cost of transportation to school, text books, uniforms and in- school meal, and examination fees, after-school coaching and ‘voluntary’ parentteacher association dues. Meanwhile, research literature clearly indicates that these hidden costs negatively impact school enrolment, attendance, performance and completion

“Other measures that have been recommended by UNESCO, UNICEF, UNFPA and allied agencies interested in improving children and young people’s access to education include: providing conditional cash transfers, stipends or scholarships; targeting boys and men to be a part of discussions about cultural and societal practices that negatively impact girls; ensuring gendersensitive curricula; addressing violence against girls and women, and; building safe and inclusive learning environments for girls and young women.

“Federal and state governments must provide stronger leadership backed by resource allocation in the broad-based, multi-stakeholder partnerships involving community stakeholders, civil society organizations, and the private/ corporate business sector, that is required to better tackle the current problem of children out- of- school in the country.”