By Felix Khanoba
More than one million out-of-school children have returned to classrooms within the past 20 months, the Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, has disclosed.
Alausa made the disclosure in Abuja while receiving the newly appointed United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Country Representative to Nigeria, Professor Isaiah Barreto Da Rosa, who paid him a courtesy visit.
A statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Ikharo Attah, on Tuesday, said the minister said the development was part of the Federal Government’s ongoing efforts to transform the education sector under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, adding that nearly 6.7 million girls had also benefited from interventions designed to improve school enrolment and retention.
He, however, called for a broader approach to education that would sustain progress in girl-child education while paying greater attention to the educational needs of boys.
Alausa said, “Nigeria’s human capital development must leave no child behind.”
According to him, the Federal Government’s education reform agenda is built around six priority areas: Technical and Vocational Education and Training, STEM education, reintegration of out-of-school children, data and digitalisation, girl-child education and quality assurance.
He said government was investing heavily in skills development, technology and teacher training, while the increased use of reliable data was helping authorities identify educational needs, target interventions and assess results.
On teacher development, the minister welcomed UNESCO’s technical assistance, particularly in support of the Ministry’s Accelerated Teacher Professional Programme, which is designed to train one million in-service teachers.
Alausa also highlighted UNESCO’s contributions to TVET assessment, digital transformation, peace education, and media and information literacy.
He stressed that international partnerships would yield greater results when they strengthened programmes already initiated by the Nigerian Government.
Earlier, Da Rosa reaffirmed UNESCO’s readiness to deepen its support for Nigeria’s education reforms, describing the organisation as a technical partner prepared to provide expertise in areas prioritised by the country.
The UNESCO representative recalled the organisation’s longstanding presence in Nigeria dating back to the 1960s, noting its interventions in TVET, teacher development, peace education, science, culture, communication and information.
Da Rosa commended the Federal Ministry of Education for its progress in digitising education data and expressed UNESCO’s willingness to expand cooperation in TVET, teacher capacity development and the reintegration of children who are out of school.
He disclosed that UNESCO-supported programmes had trained more than 28,000 teachers across various states and reached over 1.7 million students.
He added that UNESCO’s specialised institutes remained available to provide further technical expertise to support Nigeria’s education transformation efforts.
Reaffirming the Federal Government’s commitment to the partnership, Alausa assured the UNESCO representative that the ministry would continue working closely with the organisation to achieve measurable results.
He said the administration would continue to mobilise domestic resources and leverage strategic technical partnerships to expand access to education, improve quality and equip both boys and girls with the knowledge and skills needed to contribute to national development.
