Over 200,000 Out-of-school Children Return To Classroom In Niger

Chairman of  Niger State Universal Basic Education Board (NUSBEB) Sai’du Ibrahim has said that  224, 879 out of school children have been re-enrolled back to classrooms through Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) from 2019 to date in the state.

The chairman said that those returned were mostly girls and almajirai children, stating that the board paid N400 million as outstanding four month BASDA arrears to 400 local facilitators targeted at addressing issues of out-of-school children in the state.

He said that 87 technical staff of the board were trained to build their capacity on effective monitoring for better performance, as well as improve basic education in the state.

 Ibrahim revealed that Governor Abubakar Sani Bello approved payment of more than N2 billion for 2019, 2020 and 2021 backlog of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) counterpart funds.

Similarly, the chairman said the board established 24 additional junior secondary schools across the three senatorial district and three primary schools, procured and distributed weekly registers, diaries, admission register and chalk for schools across the state.

 He added that the board recently reintroduced monthly payment of the impress to education secretaries and recruited teachers to fill the manpower gaps in some local government areas.

Ibrahim further disclosed that the board is also planning to establish modern science primary schools starting with four local government areas to test run the scheme in the state.