Examining the fragments and causes of increasing out-of-school children in Nigeria

Abstract

In spite of various policy initiatives and institutional frameworks, a good number of school-age children roam the streets of Nigeria. Nigeria unduly tops the rank in the total number of out-of-school children in the global scene. Now, about 16 million Out-Of-School Children (OOSC) live in Nigeria, and this means that about one out of five OOSC in the world relate to Nigeria. The number has increased from 8.7 million in 2014 to 13.2 million and 16 million in 2015/2019, respectively. But, this number reduced to 6.95 million in 2020. The breakdown of people in the out-of-school set includes children with disabilities; nomadic groups, comprising of pastoralists and migrants fishing groups; Almajiri students and displaced people due to violent Nigeria conflicts, mostly Northern states like Adamawa, Yobe and Borno. These schools are bedecked with series of schools which have been closed, and they amount to roughly 802, out of which classrooms of about 497 were practically sabotaged, while another 1,392 were entirely damaged. It is absolutely patent that the unadulterated surge in the hiking number of out-ofschool children in Nigeria is traceable to the reinforced cases of insecurity, feeble institutional and policy structure, norms and traditions of the people, poverty, and total excommunication of children with disabilities in consideration of policies. This unearthed the OOSC fragments and the plausible instigations of the growing occupants in Nigeria. While this study adopts qualitative approach, it banks largely on secondary data to find out the perplexing population of the out-of-school children. The study concludes that, albeit series of government policy interventions have helped reduce the number of OOSC in 2020, more strategic actions need to be taken to further cushion the growth of the menace of OOSC in the country. Hence, the study proposes some recommendations to reinvigorate the decreasing trend of the OOSC.

Challenges of Inclusion of Almagirai in Nigerian School Feeding Scheme

“…Based on these goals, the government must ensure justice and the welfare of the populace, especially when it comes to education, which improves a person's capabilities whether in a formal or informal (Almagiri) system. The goal of Universal Basic Education (UBE), a program for education, is to end poverty, ignorance, and illiteracy (M.-N. N. Mohammed et al, 2021), which frequently affects almost all community groups. According to Nigeria's Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the school feeding program has received over 183 million dollars in investment, and every day, about 9 million primary school students in 26 states of Nigeria benefit from it.…”

False Generosity and the Out-of-School Children Conundrum in Nigeria: Assessing Media Strategies for Promoting Optimal School Enrolment

“…Out-of-school children in Nigeria encompass children with special needs, nomadic groups made up of herdsmen and migrants, Almajiri students, and individuals displaced due to violent Nigerian conflicts, primarily in northern states like Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa. These states have a slew of closed schools, numbering around 802, with approximately 1,889 classrooms severely damaged or destroyed (Manzuma-Ndaaba et al, 2021). Consequently, the high number of out-of-school children in Nigeria is attributable to increased instances of insecurity, weak institutional and policy structures, people's customs and values, poverty, and the sheer exclusion of children with disabilities (Manzuma-Ndaaba et al, 2021).…”

All Talk, Little Impact: Media Frames and Discursive Strategies of Out-of-School Children in Nigeria

“…What gender forms the bulk of individuals recruited into children-cults and political thuggery? Also, the exemplification of girl child of out-of-school determinism subscribes to the cultural inclinations of a part of Nigeria where it is believed that girls are deprived of western education seemingly because of conceptions of early child marriage and religious indoctrination (Tyoakaa et al, 2014;Mohammed et al, 2021;Jacob, 2022).…”

“…Aside from these, they were equally described as potential perpetrators of crimes who grow up as street urchins. Some of them were framed as vulnerable because they have lost their parents to insecurity due to violent conflicts, mostly occurring in Northern Nigeria, while many of them come from a poor background who either cannot afford schooling or who have to hawk several hours before they could attend schools as earlier established by Okoh et al, 2020;Zira & Zumo, 2020;Olanrewaju, 2021;Mohammed et al, 2021).…”

“…Similarly, the Al-Majiri system of education as presently practiced in the North was framed as a catalyst for the OOSC menace, as the system is ‗characterized by child neglect, abuse, social exclusion, and chronic poverty thus churning out young people with little or no formal education and lacking employable skills' (Vanguard 22 June 2021). An earlier study (Mohammed et al, 2021) also blamed ineffective government policies on education as a reason why children are out of school.…”