The Kaduna State Government has reiterated its commitment to tackling the menace of out-of-school children in the state, with plans to build an additional 50 new schools and return 200,000 children to school.
Governor Uba Sani stated this while declaring open the Reaching Out-of-School Children Start-Up Workshop in Kaduna on Monday.
According to the governor, the large number of out-of-school children, including those with disabilities, poses a significant threat to inclusive development.
“We are committed to tackling the challenge of out-of-school children in Kaduna State. We believe that every child deserves access to quality education, regardless of their background or circumstances,” Governor Sani said.
The governor identified six key areas of focus for his administration’s efforts to tackle the challenge of out-of-school children.
These include improving access, building and rehabilitating education infrastructure, building capacity of teachers, harnessing ICT to improve access and quality of education, prioritising girl-child education, and strengthening security in the state.
“We have already made significant strides in addressing these challenges. For instance, we have built 62 new secondary schools across the three senatorial zones, while approval has been given for the construction of an additional 50 secondary schools,” he said.
The governor also disclosed that the state government had constructed 2,326 new classrooms, renovated 707 classrooms, and provided instructional materials, teachers’ furniture, and VIP cubicle toilets.
“We have also recruited 2,000 qualified teachers, who are awaiting deployment to newly completed schools. We are committed to providing inclusive and accessible education for all, and we will continue to work tirelessly to achieve this goal,” he added.
Sani expressed gratitude to the development partners for their support and guidance, saying, “We appreciate the support of our development partners, and we look forward to continuing to work together to achieve our goals.”
The governor also called on stakeholders, including parents, community leaders, and civil society organisations, to support the state government’s efforts to tackle the challenge of out-of-school children.
“We must all work together to ensure that every child in Kaduna State has access to quality education. We owe it to ourselves, our children, and our state to make this a reality,” he said.
The state Coordinator of the Reaching Out-of-School Children Project, Ezra Angai, said the project aimed to return 200,000 out-of-school children to school, train 8,780 SBMC members, and build the capacity of 511 officers in planning, budgeting, and monitoring.
Angai noted that the project would be implemented around eight strategic components, including improvement of access to learning through the construction of 102 new schools and learning centres and the renovation of 170 existing schools.
Other areas of implementation, according to Angai, include enhancing the quality of learning through teacher professional development programmes, training, and capacity-building initiatives to ensure high levels of teacher competence and performance.
The project also aimed to strengthen the education system through the provision of support for a fully functional and digitized Education Management Information System, and improving institutional capacity, accountability, and discipline across the education sector.
Representatives of development partners, including the Islamic Development Bank, Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, the Global Partnership for Education, Education Above All, Save the Children International, and the United Nations Children’s Fund, commended the state government for its commitment to ending the menace of out-of-school children.
They pledged their continued support for the state government’s efforts to provide inclusive and accessible education for all.