The United Nation International Children Education Fund, UNICEF has said that about 50% of out-of-school girl-children who are not attending any basic education in Nigeria are children from the northeast and the northwest part of the country. UNICEF Education Manager, Jutaro Sakamoto made this known in Abuja yesterday during an education conference organised by the French institute in Nigeria.
Sakamoto said, about 7.6million girls of school age bracket are out of school in Nigeria out of which 3.9million at the primary level and 3.7million at the junior secondary school level.
He therefore disclosed that out the total, 48% of them are domiciled in the northeast and Northwest part of the country, saying that gender parity when viewed in net attendance ratio was below 1.0 in 10 states, primary in the north, but also declining in 15 states.
Explaining further, he said, 9 per cent of the poorest girls attend secondary school, compared to 81 per cent from the richest quintile.
Sakamoto laments that Nigeria accounts for 15 per cent of out of school children globally, saying, “If we can’t address the situation in Nigeria, we can’t solve the situation in the world.”
Meanwhile, he said even those who are going to school are not being taught well as a result of lack of learning facilities, and porr political will from the stakeholders, although he noted that UNICEF’s Education Opportunity for Out of School Children (OOSC) project was able to make some impact.
