The federal government has commenced plans to educate over 13.2 million out of school children in different parts of the country, including the girl-child, Almajiri children, children of nomadic pastoralists, boy child, area boys, children of migrant fishermen in farming communities, internally displaced children in conflict prone areas, among others.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Umar Farouq, made the revelation Monday in Abuja during the inaugural meeting of the Alternate School Programme (ASP) National Steering Committee, saying that “Nigeria has about 13.2 million out-of-school children, out of the 20 million worldwide, according to UNESCO 2018 and NBS 2019 reports.”
She said it was against the background of the rising number of out-of-school-children that the ministry, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, decided to develop an action plan and strategic implementation framework to address the challenges of the out-of school children in Nigeria, through the Alternate School Programme (ASP), which would be piloted in Nasarawa and Kaduna states.
She said, “the ASP is an innovative and flexible basic education and skills development intervention that is specifically tailored and designed to accommodate out-of-school-children with special characteristics/ fundamentals that are different from the ones for children attending regular schools, thus making the regular brick and mortar 8am to 2pm schooling unappealing/ unsuitable,” even as she implored members of the National Steering to contribute in achieving the objectives of the programme.
“Let me start by congratulating all members of the Alternate School Programme (ASP) National Steering Committee once again as we meet today to commence the implementation of the ASP as assigned by Mr. President.
“You are all aware that Nigeria is the leading nation in the world with the most out of school children. As a result of this embarrassing situation, Mr President decided to deliberately launch the ASP to ensure that every out of school child in Nigeria gains access to quality basic education, irrespective of social, cultural or economic circumstance.
“Each member of this National Steering Committee has been carefully chosen in expectation of the immense value you will bring in charting the strategic direction of this programme. It is in this regard that we all will guide its strategic implementation to ensure that the objectives as designed are achieved. I urge us all to join hands in the spirit of cooperation, coordination and commitment to ensure the success of the Alternate School Program,” she added.
