FG commences collation of out-of-school children in Nigeria

The Federal Government on Tuesday announced that it had begun the collation of data of all out-of-school children nationwide.

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, who disclosed this in Abuja during the second meeting of the committee which was held at the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, said the exercise was being handled by the National Steering Committee on Alternate School Programme.

Farouq, citing data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, said about 12 million children were currently out of school in Nigeria.

She said, “This committee will work with the statistics made available by the NBS to engage these out of school children.

“The alternate school programme possesses the potential for every child to gain access to quality education, irrespective of social, cultural or economic standing

“It will also provide a means of improving household incomes for their respective families through the Federal Government’s social investment programmes.”

The minister posited that the committee had worked closely with the Federal Ministry of Education and other ministries to refine the concept of the alternate school programme.