I said we should declare an emergency on education, especially at the lower level. A decision couldn’t be taken on this because the issue of emergency on education at the level of primary school is a state’s responsibility
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, has regretted that his ministry could not completely eradicate the rising number of out-of-school children in the country after seven years as minister.
The minister, in his keynote address at the meeting of the National Council on Education on Thursday, blamed the rising figure on the “state governors’ lukewarm response to the suggestion for the declaration of an emergency on education, especially at the basic education level.”
The meeting of the National Council of Education, the highest decision-making body in the sector, began with technical sessions on Monday and continues until Friday with the theme: “Strengthening of Security and Safety in Nigerian Schools for the Achievement of Education 2030 Agenda”.
The minister said the choice of the theme is the prevailing security situation in the nation’s educational system “and the inevitable challenges it poses to the public and private sectors alike.”
He said the meeting would be an opportunity to “take stock of progress in the education sector, identify the challenges and consider policy options that will enable us move rapidly towards achieving our twin global agenda – Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Charter 2063.”
There were about 10.5 million out-of-school children in Nigeria in 2015 when Mr Adamu became Nigeria’s education minister, according to the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF).
Upon assumption of office seven years ago, Mr Adamu said he wanted a declaration of emergency in basic education, but the decision could not be taken at the Federal Executive Council because he said it was state government’s responsibility.
“I said we should declare an emergency on education, especially at the lower level. A decision couldn’t be taken on this because the issue of emergency on education at the level of primary school is a state’s responsibility,” he said.
So I was directed by the President to hand that memo into a memo for the National Economic Council which I did thinking that if the council bought into it –and the members are state governors, it would just be a nationwide issue. I had to make a presentation three times and up to this moment, emergency has not been declared.”
In 2015, Sokoto and Kaduna states declared a state of emergency on education. In February, Kogi State government also declared a state of emergency on the sector.
He, therefore, called on commissioners for education present at the meeting to persuade their governors to give more priority to education at the basic education level, saying “our children are still out of schools because the resolve by the states is not as strong as that of the Federal Ministry of Education.”
This year, the Nigerian government maintained that the number of out-of-school kids in the country remains 6.9 million, dismissing the 18.5 million and 20 million figures given by UNICEF and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) respectively.
Mr Adamu also listed his ministry’s efforts at reducing the number of out-of-school children to include the development of e-learning portal to cater for students in basic and senior secondary schools across the country, the development of Nigerian Learning Passport designed to close the learning gaps and to enable continuous access to quality education.
The minister said his ministry has trained over 200 almajirai by the National Arabic Language Village, to be integrated into formal basic schools in Borno State.
He also stated the implementation of Adolescent Girls’ Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) in seven pilot states with $500 million funding support from the World Bank. The AGILE programme supports the provision of secondary education, critical life skills and digital literacy to adolescent girls.
He added that the ministry has secured a $20 million funding for accelerated emergency funding for the North-east zone from Global Partnership for Education.
Meanwhile, the minister has called on all stakeholders to unite in addressing the security challenges facing the country and the educational institutions.
He said: “Security is a collaborative effort and should not be left in the hands of the law enforcement agents alone. As such, all stakeholders in education sector should interface and be involved, through the National Council on Education, in order to address the menace of insecurity in our country, which remains one of our biggest challenges.”
Mr Adamu said his ministry has so far carried out sensitisation on the implementation of the Safe School Declaration (SSD) Initiative; conducted vulnerability survey on schools in order to devise robust security strategies, constructed perimeter walls around schools, installed CCTV/alarm systems in schools, temporarily abolished boarding in rural areas, coached students and teachers on emergency security measures and created a special security unit for schools.