The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has said the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria in 2018 stands at 10.5million.
Pernille Ironside, UNICEF Deputy Representative in Nigeria, confirmed the figure, in a statement issued recently.
UNICEF recalled that in 2018, while the primary school enrolment had increased in recent years, with about 70 per cent attendance, Nigeria still has 10.5 million out-of-school children the world’s highest number.
It said: ‘’Sixty-nine per cent of those children are in northern Nigeria, just as 60 per cent of the out-of-school children are girls.’’
Ironside stated that a ministerial strategic plan revealed that children out of school are within the ages of 6-14 years.
She said Bauchi State has the highest number with 1.1 million children that are out of school followed by Katsina with 781,500.
Hamid Bobboyi, the Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission, (UBEC), said the number of out-of-school children had increased between 2010 and 2015, from 10.5 million to 13.2 million.
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