Nasarawa Returns 16,000 Out-of-School Children To Classes

Nasarawa State government through the World Bank-assisted Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) Programme has ensured the return of over 16,000 out-of-school children to classes.

This was disclosed by the senior special assistant to Governor Abdullahi Sule on public affairs, Mr. Peter Ahemba, at a media engagement in Lafia yesterday.

The AGILE project, he said, was in line with the federal government’s commitment to promote gender equality and girls’ empowerment by introducing a number of initiatives aimed at taking programmatic actions towards ensuring massive enrollment of the female gender in secondary schools.

He said addressing the out-of-school syndrome had been a top priority of Governor Abdullahi Sule’s administration since he was first elected into office in 2019.

He said the initiative had achieved success with many students and pupils, especially females safely returned to schools and doing well.

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He said as part of broader education reform, he said the state had concluded plans under the AGILE programme to construct 30 new classroom blocks—15 for senior secondary and 15 for junior secondary schools.

He also revealed that plans were on to pay National Examinations Council (NECO) fees for over 24,000 candidates in public schools across the 13 local governments for the 2025 /202 exercise in the state.
According to him, the gesture was part of the administration’s commitment to uplifting the standard of education and lessen the financial burden on the less privileged in the state.

Ahemba, said it was as a result of the government’s determination to raise the educational bar that Nasarawa State came nine in ranking amongst the 36 states including FCT as well as second position in North Central in terms of performance.

“Because of the state government’s huge investment in the education sector, Nasarawa State was ranked ninth best nationally and second best in the North-Central zone in the 2024 NECO performance index.

“This is a deliberate effort by the Sule-led administration to promote access to education and alleviate financial hardship on students and their families,” he stated.