From Agaju Madugba, Katsina and Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has described Nigeria’s education sector as crisis-ridden with various statistics skewed against the country from all education development indicators.
According to UNICEF, the crisis is characterised by a high number of out-of-school children, low attendance and participation rates, low transition rates, low completion rates, poor learning outcomes, and low skills acquisition for children at all levels.
“These issues characterising the education system are at the backdrop of high insecurity in the North-West states of Katsina and Zamfara, low education financing, poorly resourced schools, low teacher competency levels, and high pupil-teacher ratio, among others,” Rahama Rihood Mohammed Farah, chief of field, UNICEF Field Office Kano said in Katsina, yesterday.
He spoke at a media dialogue on retention, transition, and completion of schools and re-entry guidelines, organised by UNICEF in collaboration with the state Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education.
He said: “These factors lead to low overall education attainment, hamper social and economic opportunities for young people, and perpetuate intergenerational cycles of poverty and inequality.”
According to the global body, Nigeria spends 1.2 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on education, a figure far lower than other African countries, and notably, lower than the international benchmark of four to six percent.
Expectedly, according to Farah, “Insufficient domestic financing results in a shortfall of 378,000 classrooms and approximately 278,000 teachers.
“This leads to high student-teacher ratios of 55:1 at the primary level, and additional pressure on teachers, whose capacity is already limited, as 50 percent of basic education teachers lack the Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) or the minimum teaching qualification. What is more, on each workday, 20 percent of primary school teachers are absent.
“One in three children is out of school, representing 10.2 million at primary school level, and 8.1 million children at junior secondary school level.
“And, according to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2021, three in four children, aged between seven and 14 years cannot read with understanding or solve a simple mathematics problem.
“Stalled progress on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, will affect regional and global development as Nigeria accounts for the largest global (15 percent) and regional (33 percent) share of out-of-school children.
“Education indicators are the lowest for adolescent girls in the North-East and North-West Nigeria, especially children from poor families, and those in rural and security compromised areas.
“In 2021 alone, at least 25 schools were attacked, directly impacting 1,446 learners and 24 personnel.
“Seventy-six percent of the attacks took place in the North-West. Kaduna was the most frequently attacked, recording eight out of 25 attacks. Katsina (344 learners), followed by Zamfara (327 learners), reported the highest number of abductees taken in a single abduction.
“As a precautionary measure, in the 2020/21 academic year, over 11,000 schools were closed for four months, significantly disrupting the education of 1.3 million children.
“The out-of-school phenomenon is fuelled by the growing child population, placing significant pressure on the delivery of social services. Yet, education financing has not kept pace with a burgeoning demand for education and the high fertility rate.
“Primary school completion rate in Katsina State averages at 62.5 percent compared to the national average of 73.1 percent and 56.1 percent for the North-West respectively. Senior secondary school completion rate is low, with only 32 percent of children enrolled completing their education.
“Transition rate to secondary school in Katsina State stands at 69.5 percent lower than the national average of 84 percent, and the North West average of 70 percent (MICS 2021) with fewer girls than boys transitioning to secondary schools.
“The UNICEF would like to engage the media as equal partners in education development, and ensuring that every parent, community leader, traditional leader and religious leader is aware of the government of Katsina and its partners priorities, plans and urgency to ensure that every child has equal opportunity to enrol, participate, transition, and complete his or her education in a safe and conducive environment,” Farah said.
Meanwhile, the three North East states of Borno, Adamawa, Yobe (BAY) and UNICEF have launched a new education partnership project to improve the learning of children affected by the impact of the over a decade insurgency.
The project, according to UNICEF, is the second in four years, coming after that of 2020-2023 that helped in improving over 180,000 vulnerable children in the three states
UNICEF Education Manager and Officer-in-Charge, Chief of Borno Field Office, Gilmar Cruz, said in Maiduguri the project is a follow up to the first one targeting on improving the quality of education of the children in the area.
“It will build on the gains of the previous Global Partnership for Education-Accelerated Fund (GPE-AF) which occured from 2020-2023 and was implemented in 24 LGAs across the BAY states,” Cruz disclosed.
He said UNICEF and the Borno, Adamawa, Yobe states and other partners in the previous project, improved both formal and informal education access, learning outcomes as well as continuity of learning.
He explained that the current project includes creating access to quality teaching and learning for the children to ensure they meet up despite the brunt of displacement and other impact of the violence on their education.
With the launch over, he said a workshop is organized with all stakeholders immediately to discuss “the implementation plan of the project, the coordination mechanisms and the oversight of the project across the states.”
Director of Basic Education, Federal Ministry of Education, Dr. Folake David, expressed joy that Nigeria was able to secure additional support from the Education-Accelerated Fund (GPE) for the project.
She said the aim is to improve the learning outcomes of children and build the capacity of teachers to increase children’s learning. She expressed the hope that collaboration among partners will make the programme records maximum impact.
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