By Rabiu Sanusi
The Kano State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) in collaboration with the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) Education and Youth Empowerment (EYE) project has tasked lawmakers and Local Government Education Authorities (LGEAs) across 10 Local Government Areas of the state to take up responsibilities of 105,314 children who are currently out of school in their respective LGAs.
This was even at a State Planning meeting on 2024 enrollment drive campaign activities in all constituencies of the State with members of the Kano State House of Assembly organised by the board in collaboration with the European Union (EU) and UNICEF.
According to the UNICEF focal person, Aminu Dalha said the last survey conducted in 2022 revealed that the number of Out-Of-School children in Kano stands at 989,234 all between the ages of six to 11 years.
“We want the lawmakers and the Local Government Education Authorities to take responsibility of at least 50 per cent of the Out-Of-School children in their respective LGAs,” he said after presentation of the data.
Abcnews reports that from the figures presented at the meeting, there are 217,691 Out-Of-School children across Kano Municipal, Dala, Nassarawa, Gwale, Makoda, Dambatta, Dawakin Tofa, Tudunwada, Sumaila and Gezawa Local Government Areas.
Therefore, the 10 lawmakers selected for the first phase are expected to pull out 42,944 children while the LGEAs are expected to pull out 62,370 children.
Also speaking, the Executive Chairman, Kano SUBEB, Yusuf Kabir said the essence of the meeting is to involve the critical stakeholders at the grassroots in an attempt to arrest the mebace of Out-Of-School children in the State.
Represented by the Acting board Secretary, Amina Umar, he said, “Part of our strategy is to involve all critical stakeholders as you can see that all those concerned are here present.
”This is the first time we are having members of the State House of Assembly sitting down to discuss issues of Out-Of-School children which is a success story.
“Even though it’s 20 per cent of the total number from all the identified local government areas, it’s going to be in stages we will keep on until these numbers are reduced to the bearest minimum.
“The members of the State House of Assembly, Education Secretaries and traditional rulers are closer to the people so they will now represent their people to ensure that we reduce this number.”
In her remarks the facilitator of the programme, Aisha Abudullahi explained that the Education and Youth Empowerment (EYE) project is a European Union (EU)-funded programme in North-West Nigeria aimed at increasing the number of girls and boys benefiting from safe, inclusive, relevant learning and skills development opportunities in Jigawa, Kano, and Sokoto states of Nigeria.
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