About 800,000 children in Jigawa State, Nigeria, are currently not attending school, making it the fifth most affected state in the nation. Currently, just 16.8% of school-age children are registered, a problem that Governor Malam Umar Namadi has addressed with new solutions. According to a United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) report, 83.2% of the state’s children do not attend school, and many of them are involved in child labour or begging. With 32% of its 2024 budget allocated to education, the state legislature has proclaimed a state of urgency in the field.
By early 2025, UNICEF and the government hope to cut the number of children who are not in school by 42%. Efforts include a large-scale enrolment campaign, Educational System improvements, and cooperation with community-based organisations, mothers’ associations, and local leaders. The goal is to address the issue through the newly established Ministry of Universal Basic Education and other measures like hiring more than 3,100 teachers. Considerable funds have also been granted by Governor Namadi for school renovations. Over 10.5 million children are currently out of school in Nigeria, making it one of the countries with the highest rates in the world, according to UNICEF data.
Children are frequently prevented from attending school.
In the northern regions, where low school attendance rates are a result of cultural, economic, and Security factors, the issue is particularly severe. Due to poverty, early marriage, religious beliefs, or the necessity of working to support the family, children—especially girls—are frequently prevented from attending school. Many families have been forced to escape and stop attending formal schooling in the Northeast as a result of insurgency and insecurity, particularly as a result of Boko Haram. There are still implementation gaps and structural issues even after the Universal Basic Education (UBE) program was introduced. UBE aims to provide free, obligatory education up to junior high school.
To lower the number of Nigerians who are not in school, a number of programs have been implemented over time. Successful initiatives include the Conditional Cash transfer (CCT) program, which offers cash rewards to families that enrol their children in school. The Nigerian government, for example, stated in 2018 that CCT initiatives in several northern states had over 1.8 million children enrolled in school. Another project aimed at combining Quranic teaching with traditional schooling was the Almajiri teaching Program. Nonetheless, challenges such a lack of financing and opposition from religious authorities hindered its execution.
Security issues continue to be a significant obstacle.
New government collaborations with institutions such as the World Bank and UNICEF have also aided in building new schools, educating teachers, and enhancing school facilities. A number of obstacles still prevent kids from attending school. The most important aspect is still poverty, as many parents cannot afford books, clothes or transportation even in cases where education is legally free. Another problem is the distance to schools, which deters children from attending, particularly in rural areas where they must walk several km to get to the closest school. Low female enrolment in some areas is also influenced by cultural views, especially those related to gender roles.
Families that depend on their children’s earnings to survive also frequently engage in child labour and street selling. Security issues continue to be a significant obstacle, especially in insurgency-affected areas where numerous schools have been destroyed or are dangerous as a result of the ongoing conflict. A number of partially implemented methods have been presented to overcome these issues. It has been demonstrated that initiatives that give impoverished families financial support—like cash transfers or free school meals—increase enrolment.
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Building learning centres or mobile schools for displaced and nomadic communities has also been successful. Furthermore, initiatives are underway to enhance Infrastructure through the Construction of additional schools in closer proximity to communities and the provision of free transport for kids living in rural areas. There has also been some success with a shift towards community-based solutions, where traditional and religious leaders promote the value of education, particularly for females. In order to guarantee that schools provide high-quality instruction and draw in more students, governments are also attempting to improve Teacher training programs.