As part of measures to improve children enrollment across Nigerian schools, the Federal Government has disclosed that no fewer than 924,590 out-of-school children have been enrolled into schools under Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) programme in Nigeria.
It explained that since the programme take-off, more has been achieved in the areas of getting out-school children back to school, particularly in the troubled zones across the country.
The Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, said that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration would stop at nothing in ensuring children are taken off the streets and enrolled back to schools for better opportunities.
Speaking on Thursday while delivering his address at the launching of the BESDA programme held in Jigawa State, the minister said that before 2023, more children would have been taken off the street in reducing the statistic of out-of-school kids in the country.
According to the minister, only education offers the child the opportunity to confront the enemy, defeat its armies and bring about the desired institutional changes.
He noted that for any country to develop, it must have a well-developed educational system that equips its people and prepares them with adequate knowledge.
“Since the inception of the program Better Education Service Delivery for All Program has successfully enrolled 924,590 out of the previous figures of 10, 193, 918 out of school children in Nigeria.”
“While the FG is making concerted efforts to reduce the numbers, more and more children are joining the queue, therefore unless and until our efforts at enrolling these children outweigh the birth date, the challenge will continue to stare us in our face,” Nwajiuba noted.
Also speaking, Jigawa State Governor, Muhammad Abubakar, said that his administration has excelled in the enrollment of out-of-school programme for better service delivery, assuring that his government would do more taking kids off the street across the state.
