More Than 1 Million Out-of-School Children Returned to Class in 20 Months, Minister Says

More than one million Nigerian children who had been out of school have returned to classrooms over the past 20 months, Education Minister Tunji Alausa said in Abuja. He also said nearly 6.7 million girls had benefited from measures designed to improve access to school and keep them enrolled.

Alausa made the remarks while receiving UNESCO’s newly appointed country representative to Nigeria, Isaiah Da Rosa. He called for a balanced approach to girls’ and boys’ education, warning that Nigeria’s human-capital development effort must not leave any child behind.

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While we sustain the gains made in girl-child education, we must also give greater attention to the educational needs of boys.

“While we sustain the gains made in girl-child education, we must also give greater attention to the educational needs of boys,” Alausa said. “Our human capital development must leave no child behind.”

The ministry’s reform programme focuses on six areas: technical and vocational education and training, science and technology education, children out of school, digitalisation, girls’ education and quality assurance. Alausa said the government was investing in skills development, technology and teacher capacity, while using more reliable data to identify needs, target interventions and measure results.

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Our human capital development must leave no child behind.

He highlighted the Accelerated Teacher Professional Programme, which targets one million serving teachers, and welcomed UNESCO’s support for vocational assessment, digital transformation, peace education, and media and information literacy. He said cooperation would work best when it reinforced programmes already established by the Nigerian government.

Da Rosa reaffirmed UNESCO’s commitment to Nigeria’s education reforms and described the organisation as a technical partner ready to provide expertise in areas identified by the country. He cited UNESCO’s longstanding work in Nigeria across vocational education, teacher development, peace education, science, culture, communication and information, and said the organisation was ready to deepen cooperation on teacher capacity, vocational education and the reintegration of out-of-school children.

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Partnerships will be most effective when they reinforce programmes and initiatives already established by the Nigerian Government.