Niger Targets Enrollment Of 600,000 Out-of-School Children

Niger State government has set a target to enrol about 600,000 out-of-school children back to school in collaboration with the World Bank-assisted Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE).

The Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education in the state, Dr Hadiza Asabe Mohammed, said this at a press conference on the ‘Enrollment Drive Campaign with the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE)’ in Minna yesterday.

The commissioner, who called on stakeholders to support the campaign to drastically reduce the out-of-school children of over 600,000 based on the data collected in 2022, said that the project aims to increase student enrollment across all levels of basic and secondary education.

She said the project sought to address the challenges of low enrollment rates and ensure every child has access to quality education in the state.

Dr Asabe Mohammed maintained that the enrolment drive campaign exercise that commenced this week will end on 19th September 2024 at the Emir of Minna Palace with Community sensitization across the state, zones, local government areas, emirates, districts, and door-to-door visitations.

The commissioner said that educational materials and resources for schools, incentives for schools that achieve significant enrollment increases, and the establishment of feedback mechanisms to address concerns from parents and guardians will form part of the activities.

In her remarks, the state coordinator of the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE), Hajiya Maimuna Ibrahim Attahiru, explained that the World Bank initiative aims to bring back out-of-school children to school, especially the girl child.

She emphasised the importance of education and declared the organisation’s total support for the realization of the mission while calling on the parents, guardians, and caregivers to support the move and at least educate their children at the secondary school level.