UNICEF, Stakeholders Brainstorm On Out-of-School Children In Sokoto

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in partnership with community leaders, has stepped up efforts to reduce the rising number of out-of-school children in Sokoto state.

At the Digital Village for Almajiri Boys renovated by UNICEF with funding from Eleva Foundation, UNICEF country representative in Nigeria, Mrs Wafaa Saeed Abdelatef, commended the performance of 180 Almajiri boys undergoing digital entrepreneurship training under a UNICEF-sponsored programme in the state.

The Almajiri trainees, drawn from Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Niger and Katsina states, are being equipped with digital skills aimed at making them self-reliant after the programme.

As part of her working visit to Sokoto State, Mrs Abdelatef also interacted with Christian and Muslim religious leaders from Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara states, who participated in a one-day child rights meeting (Faith of Life).

She ended the monitoring exercise with an on-the-spot assessment visit to Makarantar Malam Umaru Kabawa, a private initiative mass literacy school, comprising of out-of-school 120 boys and 80 girls in Yabo local government area and Yabo Model Primary School.

At Yabo Model Primary School, Mrs Abdelatef commended the school management and SBMC, for their modest achievements but expressed concern over the thousands of children still roaming the streets instead of being in schools.

Stakeholders including traditional and religious leaders, pledged to sustain school enrollment. They however, raised alarm over poverty and lack of parental sensitization as major drivers of the menace.

Representing the district head of Yabo, Mallam Abubakar lamented that, “many families cannot afford to keep their children in school, while some parents still lack adequate awareness of the value of education.”

SBMC chairman, Mai Kasuwa Dan Shehu, said the committee had succeeded in returning several children to school but noted difficulties in sustaining them beyond primary and secondary education due to financial constraints.