The Federal Government on Thursday expressed excitement that the number of out-of-school children in the country which stood at 10.1 million in 2019, reduced to 6.9 million in 2020.
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, stated these during the annual ministerial briefing on the activities of the ministry in 2020.
According to him, the sum of $611 million secured through the World Bank credit facility to support Universal Basic Education recorded a massive enrollment of out-of-school children in 17 states.
The Minister said the National Association of Proprietors and School Owners of Nigeria alone saw the enrollment of one million children, adding that 900,000 Nigerians were ‘taken off the shelve’ of adult illiterates in 2020.
Adamu who said more out-of-school children would be enrolled in school in 2021, stressed that a $500m loan was secured from World Bank to drive the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment programme, to ensure girls were taken off the streets, trained, and empowered to live normal and quality lives.
He said, “I can, however, tell you that through the BESDA initiative, we have reduced the figure of out-of-school children from 10.1 million to 6.9 million.”