Gombe, UNICEF Launch Enrolment Drive To Tackle Out-of-School Children Crisis

In a renewed effort to code the increasing fig of out-of-school children successful Gombe State, the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), successful collaboration with the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and UNICEF, has launched the 2025 Enrolment Drive Campaign.

At a one-day stakeholders’ engagement meeting, the Chairman of SUBEB, Mr. Babaji Babadidi, noted that the run aims to rise nationalist consciousness and foster collaboration among stakeholders to make a conducive situation for bringing children backmost to school.

He said each of the state’s 11 Local Government Areas (LGAs) has been tasked with enrolling astatine slightest 10,000 pupils for the 2025/2026 world session, totaling 110,000 pupils statewide.

Mr. Babadidi expressed assurance that this strategy could chopped the fig of out-of-school children successful Gombe by 50% by the twelvemonth 2030.

The State Commissioner for Education, Professor Aishatu Maigari, advocated for an adjacent much ambitious target, proposing that each LGA enrol 20,000 pupils, efficaciously doubling the people to 220,000 crossed the state.

According to UNICEF and World Bank data, Nigeria has an estimated 13.5 cardinal out-of-school children, with 787,619 successful Gombe State alone. The fig represents astir 13% of the state’s population, a statistic described arsenic “alarming” by stakeholders.

Speaking astatine the event, UNICEF Bauchi Field Office representative, Mohammed Kudi, stressed the value of intelligibly defining the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholders successful not lone enrolling children but besides ensuring their retention and completion of basal education.

He added that crossed Nigeria, much than 80% of children are retired of school, and Gombe State’s numbers person risen sharply from 500,000 to 737,000, underscoring the urgency of the campaign.

Recall that Governor Inuwa Yahaya had precocious signed the model for of enactment to tackle out-of-school children phenomenon.

He signed the papers during a strategical engagement with UNICEF’s Chief of Field Office, Dr. Nuzhat Rafique, with the model focusing connected 4 precedence areas specified arsenic engaging governmental actors, strengthening champion practices, mobilising communities, and leveraging exertion and innovation to amended entree to prime learning.

Calling the concern a nationalist emergency, Governor Inuwa Yahaya said insecurity and wide displacements successful the North-East had compounded the acquisition crisis.