The creation of the Almajirai and Out-of-School Children Commission, after the passage of the law by the National Assembly, was aimed at addressing the menace and rising cases of out-of-school children in the country. In spite of that, the House of Representatives is concerned that the number of children affected is on the increase. It has, therefore, decided to hold a basic education summit to find ways of helping the Executive address the problem, which many believe is the problem of states and local governments, TONY AKOWE reports.
Goal Four of the Sustainable Development Goals seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. But as at September 2023, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) estimated that about 263 million children remained out of school around the world seven years to the attainment of the SDG. According to UNESCO, this number includes children who never started formal education as well as those who dropped out of school for one reason or the other.
The UN body attests to the fact that reducing the number of out-of-school children is a key priority for countries across sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria, which incidentally has the highest numbers. Interestingly, Nigeria contributes over 20 million of these children, making the country one of the three countries with the highest figure globally, the others being India and Pakistan.
The World Bank, in its 2019 report, states that while the number of out-of-school spreads across both the urban and rural parts of Nigeria, the situation is worse in the rural areas that are isolated or deprived.
However, the Nigeria Education Ministerial Plan (2018-2022) outlines several strategies targeted at bringing children back to school. But inspite of these strategies, the number has remained significantly high.
Out-of-school children: A time bomb
Incidentally, the number of out-of-school children is more in the northern part of the country and among the almajiri children, who roam the street daily begging to earn a living. Stakeholders believe that this set of children have become easy recruit for terrorists and bandits. Minister of State for Education, Yusuf Sununu, said this was unacceptable and disheartening.
The minister said: “The rising figure of out-of-school children in Nigeria and most particularly in the northern part of Nigeria is not only unacceptable but disheartening. There must be concerted efforts to address and reverse the trend of this time-bomb phenomenon. At the federal level, the newly established National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children is set to commence activities. It is pertinent to mention at this juncture that the challenges in the education sector are enormous, but we are all equal to the task.
“Collective efforts by all stakeholders will defeat the challenges of out-of-school children syndrome; poor teacher quality, unconducive teaching, and learning environment; gender inequality and discrimination; poor data generation, utilisation and management issues, inadequate infrastructure in our schools and the inclusion of Nigeria on the list of world learning poverty countries.”
Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani acknowledged that the state has about 680,000 out-of-school children, saying the figure was alarming and unacceptable. Unfortunately, not all state governors acknowledge the need to invest in basic education with lack of teachers and functional facilities for conducive learning in the various states. Even though the House of Representatives passed a law on out-of-school children, which was signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari, the decay in basic education across the country has continued to grow.
Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Commission to the rescue?
The government has gone ahead to establish an Almajirai and Out-of-School Children Commission to tackle the issue. The objectives of the commission include to formulate policy and issue guidelines in all matters relating to almajiri education and out-of-school children in Nigeria as well as provide funds for research and personnel development for the improvement of almajiri education, the development of programmes on almajiri education, construction of classrooms and other facilities relating to almajiri education and out-of school children. It is also to arrange effective monitoring and evaluation of the activities of agencies concerned with almajiri education; establish and manage primary schools for almajiri and out-of-school children among others.
While the commission is still battling to settle down and carry out its assigned responsibility, the parliament is concerned that the number of out-of-school children keeps growing by the day and has, therefore, resolved to organise a basic education summit in conjunction with the Universal Basic Education Commission and other stakeholders.
Following a motion on the need to address the issue of out-of-school children, the House is also asking the Federal Government to increase the budgetary allocation for education to accommodate free basic education for Nigerian children, while the Ministry of Education is to ensure the realisation of free basic education for all Nigerian children with no hidden charges/fees.
Among other recommendation arising from a motion by Hon. Ayodeji Alao-Akala include asking the state governments to actualise the right to free basic education in all states in Nigeria and mandate the compulsory enrolment of all children in their states; asking UBEC to prescribe the minimum standards for basic education, with effective and strict monitoring of the standards and personnel audit of teaching and non-teaching staff and asking State Enforcement Agencies to hold children found loitering during school hours and have their parents face the appropriate consequences.
The way out
Akala said that Education is a fundamental human right of every child, yet thousands of Nigerian children are being deprived of this basic human right. According to him, the provisions on Right to Education in Chapter 2 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 though regarded as non-justiciable by Chapter 6 of the Constitution, have been given effect and made justiciable by other domestic laws such as the Compulsory Universal Basic Education Act (UBEA) 2004 and the Child’s Rights Act of 2003. Citing the provisions of the child right act, Akala said: “Every child has the right to free, compulsory and universal basic education and it shall be the duty of the Government in Nigeria to provide such education while Section 2(1) of the UBEC Act provides that ‘Every Government in Nigeria shall provide free, compulsory and universal basic education for every child of primary and junior secondary school age’.” He argued that the issue of out-of-school children is a multifaceted problem with far-reaching consequences.
He said: “The actualisation of promoting the Right to Education is bedeviled by issues such as low enrolment of children particularly the girl-child, low completion of basic education, shortage and poor-quality infrastructures in schools, among others”, adding that education plays a crucial role in breaking the cycle of poverty, and promoting social and economic development.
Hon. Saidu Abdullahi (APC, Niger) recalled that the 9th Assembly dedicated whole plenary to discussing issues of education and out-of–school children because of its strategic importance, but lamented that despite seeming efforts, things have continued to remain the same. Abdullahi said: “In 2020, when we held that narrative, we were looking at about 13 million children. Today, that figure has risen to almost 20 million, making Nigeria number one country with the highest number of out -of -school children. Over the years, we have pushed a lot of resources into the education sector. It does not matter whether it is adequate because it can never be adequate because of the problems that we have. We have pushed resources into the basic education sector, but things keep going bad and the number keeps going up. It means that there is something that we are not doing right. If we don’t give opportunity for our children to be educated, whatever plan we have in terms of national development will be a mirage.”
He argued that “as a people and as a country, we should get to the point where we say enough of the talks and swing into action. The intervention from UBEC is a counterpart funding arrangement between the states and the Federal Government. UBEC has a way of measuring performance and there are ways that states that are not meeting up can be dealt with. We should take more actions and talk less”.
On his part, Hon. Yusuf Baraje (APC, Niger) believes that so much is already being done in the area of education in the country, but lamented that the budgetary allocation to the sector has not been well-utilised. He said: “Sometime ago, the administration of Goodluck Jonathan came out with a robust plan of creating almajirai school. In my constituency, an almajirai school was constructed and equipped. But until today, that school has not been put to use after over 10 years when it was constructed. I do not think that the problem we have is funding of education. The question is have we been able to judiciously use the little resources that goes to education?”
House Leader and a former university lecturer, Prof. Julius Ihonvbare (APC, Edo), believes that the issues surrounding education should not be treated in isolation. He said until the nation pays proper attention to the character and quality of elected leaders, all the talks about improving education will not be implemented. He said: “Money has gone into basic education now, more than any other time, including the last three years. The almajirai schools were built without consultations with those who were managing the almajirai system. There is a facility that was brought in by the World Bank and given to the states, but nothing has happened. You have governors who show absolutely no interest in education. They preside over states for four years and do not build one school, or maintain the ones on ground. We must have the courage at some point to sit with the executive and tell them how we feel. We are close to the people and see the dilapidated buildings. We see schools with just one teacher or schools without water. It is a criminal offence to establish a school and put children there without a playground and water and the children use behind the building to ease themselves. It will be nice that after the security summit, we should have another summit on basic education because that is the foundation. It is what you do at the basic level that you send to the tertiary. Some states collect money from UBEC and don’t utilise it and go back the following years to look for more money. In this country, UBEC will build a facility for about N600 million, hand it over to a so-called governor and the governor will allow the entire building rot away. This happened in Edo State where 14 buildings were so built. One was built in Kogi and the governor refused to use it on the ground that he has no money to pay teachers. So, we must sit down as a House, invite the governors and talk to them the way we think we should have a conversation.”
The Deputy Speaker, Hon. Benjamin Kalu also believes that the Federal Government is doing its best in the area of education. He said: “If the amount of money going into education is well utilised, I can assure you that most of the motions surrounding this issue will not be coming up. Nobody is monitoring these budgets that we push. There should be a way of ensuring that at the state level, they do what they are supposed to do.”
For Hon. Dominic Okafor (APGA, Anambra), the current insecurity in the country can be traced to lack of education for the youth. He said the lawmakers need to think out of the box and come out with rules and laws that would make it compulsory for parent to ensure that their children get some level of education before they go on to be whatever they want to be in life. He said: “It is unfortunate that a lot of state governors embark on gigantic infrastructures without paying attention to education. The current Anambra State governor has employed more than 10,000 teachers. I want other governors to emulate him because without education, we are not going anywhere”.
But Hon. Clement Jimbo (APC, Akwa Ibom) said the lawmakers can help contribute to addressing the problem of out-of-school children by dedicating 50 percent of the zonal intervention project to education. He said: “Part of the solution we can bring to help this country is to devote at least 50 percent of our zonal intervention projects to the education sector in a particular budget circle. The House can resolve that every member should devote 50 percent to help tackle this critical sector of our development in this country.”
Hon. Mohammed Bello El-Rufai said the child is the product of the state and, therefore, a crime against the state to have them out of school. He suggested an interface between the House leadership and state governors to find ways of addressing the challenge.
“I want to suggest an engagement between the leadership and some state governors, even if it is at geo-political level. Only a few state Assemblies will have this honest conversation with state governors. Even though there is separation of power, the leadership of the House can engage the state governors because Nigerians look at us as representatives. Kaduna State currently has what we call education marshals engaged by the current governor. Their job is to go out, find children who are out of school and drag them to school. It is actually a crime against the state because when it comes to education, the child is actually a product of the state and not the family,” El-Rufai said.
