AfriPulse
Gombe State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) on Monday launched a campaign to return 787,619 out-of-school children to school.
In his address during a one-day stakeholders’ engagement organised for the 2025 enrolment drive campaign, the State Chairman of SUBEB, Mr Babaji Babadidi, explained that the campaign aimed to sensitise stakeholders and the general public on the importance of collaboration in creating an enabling environment that would accelerate the return of out-of-school children to school.
According to him, data from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank have shown that there are 13.5 million out-of-school children in Nigeria, with 787,619 from Gombe State alone.
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“Gombe plans to reduce this number to 50 per cent by 2030. The current situation calls for active collaboration among stakeholders to act with urgency in addressing this issue.
7 injured as trucks collide in Oyo Tinubu seeks partnership with Church to tackle poverty “This programme is an accelerated initiative geared towards reducing the number of out-of-school children.
“One of the major factors contributing to children being out of school is the limited sensitisation and awareness campaigns. These challenges have prompted UBEC and SUBEB to embark on a holistic approach to decisively address the issue,” he said.
Babadidi revealed that each Local Government Area (LGA) has been given a target to enrol no fewer than 10,000 pupils for the 2025/2026 academic year, making a total of 110,000 pupils across the state.
On her part, the state’s Commissioner of Education, Dr Aishatu Umar Maigari, stated that the figures of out-of-school children in Gombe State have been harmonised based on age group, gender, and children living with disabilities.
She said they have a Framework of Action for out-of-school children in the state, supported by UNICEF, and another framework which focuses on Almajiri education.
According to her, each of the 11 LGAs of the state has one model Tsangaya school and three bilingual schools with a capacity of 1,000 students. “Once we mobilise these students, we have the facilities to accommodate them,” Dr Maigari stated.
She further said enrolment should increase to 20,000 pupils per LGA, up from the initial 10,000 target, bringing the new total to 220,000 pupils across the state.
Source: DailyTrust | Read the Full Story…
