Muhammad Garba
Federal Government through Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) has succeeded in the enrolment of over 924,590 out- of- school children into formal education system across 17 states of the federation.
The State Minister of Education, Mr. Chukwuemeka Nwajiubu stated this yesterday at the occasion of the launching of the BESDA held at the Manpower Development Institute (MDI), Dutse.
He said, federal government has come up with series of intervention to address the high rate of out- of school children in Nigeria, and so far, based on the available report the effort is yielding fruitful results.
The Minister added that, federal government is currently operating BESDA intervention in 17 states of the federation that include the entire 13 states of the North-West and North-east.
According to him there is an estimate of 10 million children presently roaming the streets across the country while Jigawa is one of the worst affected by the menace while states of Rivers, Niger, Oyo and Ebonyi.
Mr Chukwuemeka said the BESDA became effective on 22January 2018 with the commencement of implementation processes at the Federal government level.
He said each beneficiary state is expected to commence implementation in line with the specific steps and guidelines provided under the program.
The Minister reassured the commitment of federal government to ensure that out of school children will be returned soon as possible.
“Learning is not only a moral and legal obligation, but also a productive investigate that will guarantee the future of our children and ensure that their rights are protected as enshrined in the Child Rights Act if 2003”, he stated.
On his part, the Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Muhammed Badaru Abubakar said the state government on its part has recruited 1,393 school teachers in 2018 while screening of 4,000 teachers under the J-teach programme is underway.
Alhaji Badaru said the flagging-off and launching of the BESDA at this time is appropriate in view of the fact that reducing in number of out of school children is one of the 10 pillars of the ministerial strategic plan.
