In a sobering report, UNICEF has revealed the grim reality of Nigeria’s education crisis, ranking the country as the nation with the highest number of children out of school worldwide. Only 63 percent of primary school-aged children attend classes regularly, leaving an alarming portion of young minds without access to basic education, stymieing their future prospects and threatening the country’s long-term development.
The UNICEF report also revealed that an astounding 18.3 million children – 10.2 million at the primary level and a further 8.1 million at the junior secondary level – are missing out on education.
Dr. Tushar Rane, Chief of Field Office at the Bauchi UNICEF Field Office, made this known while delivering a sobering message during a two-day stakeholders’ meeting in Bauchi, which is focused on addressing the issues of out-of-school children and improving education retention, transition, and completion models in Bauchi, Gombe, and Adamawa states.
During the meeting, UNICEF’s concern over the staggering rates of out-of-school children and the low levels of learning achievement in Nigeria was palpable. Dr. Tushar Rane, citing data from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2021, expressed deep dismay at the fact that only 84 percent of children successfully transition to junior secondary education after completing primary school, and that less than 50 percent of the 5.9 million children who start primary school each year in Nigeria complete Junior Secondary Grade 3.