Nigeria needs 20,000 schools, 907,769 classrooms to accommodate out-of-school children: UBEC
The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has disclosed that Nigeria urgently needs 20,000 additional schools and 907,769 classrooms to address the growing issue of out-of-school children in the country.
This revelation was made by Hammed Boboyi, the Executive Secretary of UBEC, during a briefing to the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman.
The exact number of out-of-school children in Nigeria has been a subject of controversy.
While the official number could not be independently verified due to a delay in the national census, a 2022 UNESCO report estimated that Nigeria has approximately 20 million out-of-school children.
Under the former president, Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian government argued that the country only accounted for 12.4% of the total number of out-of-school children in sub-Saharan Africa.
However, experts pointed out that UNESCO’s statistics covered out-of-school children aged 6-18 years, while the government focused on those within the age bracket of 6-11 years, leading to disparities in reported figures.
Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, emphasized the importance of prioritizing basic education in the country, highlighting that the foundation level is critical for the overall development of the education sector and national development.
He called on all states in Nigeria to demonstrate greater commitment by providing counterpart funding to accelerate basic education development.
The minister assured that the government, under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is dedicated to ensuring that every Nigerian child receives an education.
He also noted that the upcoming national census will help resolve the controversies surrounding the actual number of out-of-school chilren.
