North-East home to over 2m uneducated children, says UNICEF

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has lamented that over two million children are out of school, denying them access to education in the North-East.

According to the global agency, about 180,000 of the affected kids are in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe (BAY) states.

UNICEF Chief of Field Office in Borno State, Gilmar Cruz, raised the alarm yesterday in Maiduguri at a workshop to launch the Global Partnership in Education with Accelerated Funding (GPE-AF) project.

The workshop is supported by GPE-AF on education and learning for children in emergencies in the Northeast.

He said participants from the three states are to discuss education and learning programmes for children in the conflict-affected region.

Cruz further disclosed that even children, who have access to education, however, face a lot of challenges to remain in school.

Consequently, the UNICEF official said: “Many of our children are not learning the necessary skills to succeed in their lives,” observing that the communities are not empowered to send their children to school.

On the out of school children, he said: “It is urgent and our duty to find solutions to the challenges that our children face.

“UNICEF and other partners can only do that by empowering our communities and working together at federal and state levels,” assuring that the UN agency is committed to supporting governments in returning children to schools.

Reiterating the enrolment of children in schools, Cruz said it is only th that the educrough partnership that the challenges could be overcome in the region.

According to him, the launched project would build on the gains made through the previous GPR-AF 2020-2023 implemented successfully in 24 council areas across the BAY states.

He, therefore, thanked the Federal and state Ministries of Education and State Universal Basic Education Boards for their commitment to returning children to school.

Corroborating UNICEF’s lamentations, Borno State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) Executive Secretary, Prof. Bulama Kagu, noted that in 2014, the number out-of-school children was 1.3 million in the state, but returned only 600,000 street children to schools.

He attributed the development to insecurity and poverty in the state, particularly the occupation of Abadam, Guzamala and Marte council areas.