Nigeria accounts for 10.5 million of the 61 million “out of school ‘’ children worldwide, according to Education Minister, Prof. Ruqayytu Rufai. Next to Nigeria is Pakistan with five million children of school age out of school. Without shame and in spite of this grim picture, the minister still told the World Education Forum in London that Nigeria’s educational policy direction is aimed at ensuring every child of school age is in school.
Is it not obvious that government is not making any progress in its policy direction? Ten years ago, over 10million Nigerian children were out of school. Today, government still parades same figure. Why has the figure remained same in spite of the Universal Basic Education law that makes first six years of education compulsory for every Nigerian child? The law even makes provision for punishment for offenders? Where are the offenders? How many parents has government taken to court for failing to send their children to school?
Guess this government is never tired of rhetoric. Why is it that billions of naira expended on Almajiri education has failed to yield fruit? Rather than striving to address the problem, government should for once address the challenge by building schools, employing teachers and punishing parents that fail to register their children in school in line with the UBEC law.
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