By Austin Ajayi, Yola
No fewer than .86 million children of school age in Adamawa State is said to be out of school with three local governments areas taking the lead of girls that are not in school.
According to the reports, Maiha, Song and Numan, on the average the girl-child constitutes about 50 per cent of people bumping up the numbers of out of school children in the state.
Executive Director, African Center for Leadership, Strategy and Development, Monday Osasah, disclosed this at a press briefing over the weekend in Yola, Adamawa state.
The baseline survey conducted by the African Center for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Center LSD) on the number of out of school children in Adamawa State shows that about 886,634 children are out of school.
Implementing its projects, on three pilot LGAs in Adamawa, the Community Led Collective Action for Girl Education (C-CAGE) in Maiha, Song and Numan, it was gathered that, 67.7%, 63.3% and 45% respectively of girls are out of school in the three LGAs under study.
The centre revealed that “51 per cent of girls of school age being out of school portend a bleak future for Adamawa state and Nigeria at large unless something serious is done about it.”
According to Osasah “Recent statistics indicate that Nigeria has approximately 13 million out of school children, 60% of this number is located in the North Eastern Nigeria.”
“The situation is exacerbated insurgency and insecurity in the region.
“The baseline study conducted by the centre which heralded the implementation of the C-CAGE project indicated that Adamawa has 51 per cent (886,634) out of school children in the country.”
He explained that, “in the three local government areas where this project is being implemented, Maiha has the highest number of out of school girls with 66.7%, followed by Song with 63.3% and Numan with 45%.”
The centre while commending the Fintiri led government for initiating educational policies and projects like payment of WAEC and NECO fees, eliminating the payment of school fees, opening doors for recruitment of two thousand teachers, verification of teachers credentials to ensure quality of teaching staff.
The director of the centre called on the state government to, “put proper monitoring mechanism in place to ensure that there is complete and robust implementation of the free education programme across the state.
“He urged government engage qualified teachers and the posting of teachers after recruitment should not be skewed against the rural areas to ensure fairness and quality across board.”
“The state government should activate all SDG’s goals in the state and ensure no one child is left behind or denied his or her right of education especially the girl children.”
