The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has raised concerns about the high number of out-of-school children and poor quality of education for children in northern Nigeria.
Henzodaily reports that the Chief of UNICEF Field Office Kano, Rahama Rihood Mohammed Farah, stated this during a press conference in marking the 2025 International Day of Education (IDE) at Bon Hotel in Kano on Friday.
The theme for the 2025 International Day of Education is ‘AI and Education: Preserving Human Agency in a World of Automation’.
UNICEF said Nigeria has 10.2 million out-of-school children, of this number, 16th (1,632,000) of the children are from Jigawa, Kano and Katsina states. Also, 32% of primary school going age children were out of school in Kano state.
“There are currently about 10.2 million children at the primary level are out of school in Nigeria, 16 percent of them are from Kano, Jigawa and Katsina states, according to MICS 2021.
“Close to one million children are out of school in Kano state( 989,234); a total of 337,861 out-of-school children are in Jigawa, while Katsina state has 536,112 out-of-school children,” Farah said.
Breaking down the statistics of the country’s out-of-school children crisis, Farah disclosed that only 1 out of 4 children aged between 7 to 14 years, in Nigeria can read and understand simple sentences.
“While the spectre of Out of School Children (OOSC) is a major concern, the challenge is that even those children who have the opportunity to be enrolled in school are not having quality education.
“Only 1 out of 4 children in Nigeria, aged 7-14 years can read and understand a simple sentence or solve basic arithmetic, according to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS 2021) report,” he explained.
UNICEF stated that Kano, Jigawa and Katsina state have the lowest quality of education standards when compared to other states.
“Across Kano, Jigawa and Katsina states, this challenge is staggering: Tests conducted by the Federal Ministry of Education in 2022 found that Foundational Learning rates stand at 11 percent or lower in the three states of Kano, Jigawa and Katsina.
“For instance, only 2% of primary school learners in Jigawa state have foundational reading skills while less than 1% have numeracy skills.
“Although Kano figures appear better at 9.6% for reading proficiency, and 11.2% for numeracy, these figures are way lower than the national averages of 26% per cent for Reading proficiency and 25% for Numeracy respectively,” he stated.
UNICEF said the conference was organized to leverage the advocacy moment of the IDE to highlight the significance of education and its role in fostering a well-informed, inclusive, and peaceful society.
Farah highlighted inadequate funding of the education sector and the disruptive impact of climate change on learning, among others as some of the challenges confronting education in the country, particularly in the north.
He disclosed that UNICEF was supporting basic education in Kano, Jigawa, and Katsina states through cash transfers, tree planting campaigns, enrollment drives, supply of learning materials, building of schools and improvement of teachers’ capacities, among other interventions.